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IT plans to spend $9.7 million to “cyber investments” in FY 2024 and $10.5 million in FY 2025, CIO Bill Zielinski said during the Thursday meeting.
The city was hit by ransomware this spring. A Friday news bulletin confirmed that the ongoing investigation has “determined that an unauthorized third party accessed certain servers and downloaded some data … between April 7 and May 4.”
The city has been working with “a team of cybersecurity professionals” and continues to remediate the breach, it says.
Zielinski was present during last week’s media preview in which City Manager T.C. Broadnax gave highlights of the city’s revenue and budget, which will be $4.6 billion. That is $1 billion higher than the previous budget; the fiscal year commences Oct. 1.
Broadnax highlighted several spending areas including law enforcement, with a technology investment of at least $5 million. He also alluded to using technology to enhance the permitting and planning processes.
For details, the city’s five-year forecast includes the Development Services project wish list. Three will require technology: replace the core permit processing system, update the Electronic Plan Review software and explore replacing the land management system.
Zielinski told Industry Insider earlier this year that his team of 260 employees operated from a $140 million IT budget in FY 2023. There was also about $60 million of “identifiable” tech funding throughout department budgets.