Council to Consider Bond Refunding to Make $4 Million Available for Cybersecurity Upgrades

The New Britain City Council is set to consider a proposal to bond $4 million for technology and cybersecurity upgrades that city officials say have been neglected in the past, to be paid for by refunding past city bonding.

Less than three months after incoming Mayor Bobby Sanchez (D) took office, with computer infrastructure he inherited, the city was targeted by a “randomware” cyber attack. After the immediate response to the attack, the Mayor and Council hired a cyber security company to provide, “a fully managed detection and response service that provides continuous monitoring, threat detection, and response across endpoint, identity and cloud applications.

According the city officials, the $4 million is to be made available from savings achieved by refunding $115 million of existing city bonded debt, without adding to the city’s debt and remaining “revenue neutral.”

According to the Council resolution, the $4 million allocation is to be, “for costs related to information technology infrastructure and cybersecurity upgrades (the “Project”). The Project shall include, but not be limited to, design, repairs, equipment, materials, professional fees, and for administrative, printing, legal and temporary and permanent financing costs and other costs related to the Project.”

Both items are on the agenda of a special Council meeting tonight, November 12th at 6:30pm at City Hall.