Newburgh City Hall reopens after cyber incident

Newburgh City Hall reopened Tuesday after being closed for more than a week due to an unspecified cyber incident.

Last Monday, June 10, the City of Newburgh experienced a network security incident. This incident resulted in a temporary disruption of some city services and administrative functions, including the ability to process or accept payments for property taxes, water, sewer, sanitation, permit fees and traffic tickets. The city government immediately engaged outside IT experts and other professionals who continued to work around the clock to fully restore operations, according to Chief of Staff Mike Neppl.

As of Monday, June 17, the City has reopened City Hall and 123 Grand Street for business. City phone and email services were restored as of 9 a.m. Monday.

The City’s systems for processing and accepting payments will be gradually brought online over the next seven to ten days. In addition, a grace period for past-due payments of property taxes and water, sewer and sanitation bills will be established during this downtime.

“The average downtime for a network security incident like the one in the City of Newburgh is 22 to 26 days,” said Neppl, who represented City Manager Todd Venning, who was reportedly attending a conference in Orlando. “The City’s leadership team showed incredible leadership and tenacity by working around the clock to bring most City services back online in less than a week. There is more work to be done, and we will not rest until services are fully restored to our citizens.”