Mayor's Office

Online bill pay restored / Cyber attack recovery updates

UPDATE September 6, 2024:

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley announced today that online bill pay services have been restored, following a cyber attack that began August 14. Flint residents can now pay water, sewer, and tax bills online at https://www.invoicecloud.com/cityofflintmi.

Residents can now log in to the online portal to access their account balance, see activity, make payments, and set up autopay. Log in to InvoiceCloud for payments.

Starting today, there will be a one-month grace period to allow residents to pay outstanding bills, now that all normal payment options have been restored. The City of Flint will not apply late fees or conduct shutoffs for nonpayment until October 7, 2024.

Mayor Neeley also said that the City of Flint is nearing full restoration of its phone system, though testing is still ongoing throughout Flint City Hall and other facilities.

“Our goal is always to be better today than we were yesterday, and we are moving closer to our goal of full recovery every day,” Mayor Neely said. “I want to thank our internal team and our external partners who continue to work tirelessly as we bring our systems back online.”

The City of Flint announced on August 26 that it had installed a completely redesigned network, including Next Generation firewalls to deter cyber criminals and strengthen safeguards. In addition, the City has recovered most of its data and successfully restored the majority of its servers from backup. 

As services become available, the City is testing its systems and reviewing data before going live. The City will continue to keep residents and businesses informed when public-facing systems are ready to go live.

As the City of Flint works to restore its systems safely, state-of-the-art safeguards are being installed to prevent a recurrence. Among other protections, the City of Flint has installed advanced software security on servers and computers on its network.

Service Impacts

This list of service impacts will be continuously updated as progress is made with the network disruption. We expect gaps in service and continuous changes, and we appreciate residents’ patience as we work to fully restore service.

Public Safety

Emergency services, including 911, dispatch, law enforcement, and fire operations, are fully operational and unaffected. The Flint Police Department’s online reporting system Coplogic is available.

Payments

  • Online payment services for water, sewer, and taxes have been restored. Log in to InvoiceCloud for payments. Residents can pay online, or by cash, check, or card in person at Flint City Hall and the City of Flint Service Center on Clio Rd.
  • Starting September 6, there will be a one-month grace period to allow residents to pay outstanding bills, now that all normal payment options have been restored. The City of Flint will not apply late fees or conduct shutoffs for nonpayment until October 7, 2024.

Email, Phone, and Voicemail

  • City employees are able to access email.
  • The City phone system is still experiencing gaps in service. Please call during normal business hours and be patient if you are not able to reach us right away.
  • Voicemail is working intermittently, and some messages may have been lost.
  • View the City Directory: https://www.cityofflint.com/city-directory/

Website Access

The City’s website is hosted on a separate server and is fully accessible.

Public Works

Public Works services are fully operational, including waste collection, street maintenance, water and sewer utilities, and blight elimination.

Public Health

The Office of Public Health is fully operational. Flint residents can pick up free water testing kits and water filters at Flint City Hall or the City of Flint Service Center on Clio Rd.

UPDATE August 30, 2024:

We are still working to bring our phone server back online. If you have been trying to reach us by phone and have been unable to get through, please call our temporary central phone number, 810-382-6576. Your message will be routed to the appropriate department and you will receive a return call. Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE August 26, 2024:

Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley announced at a press conference this afternoon that the City of Flint believes it has successfully recovered the majority of its key data in the aftermath of a cyber attack that began August 14, 2024.

“We appreciate our community’s patience while we continue to recover from this cyber attack, and we are pleased to share some good news today,” Mayor Neeley said. “After long hours and hard work from both our City of Flint staff and external cyber experts, we have been successful in recovering key data.”

The City of Flint has installed a completely redesigned network, including Next Generation firewalls to deter cyber criminals and strengthen safeguards. The City has also successfully restored the majority of its servers from backup.

As services become available, the City is testing its systems and reviewing data before going live. The City will continue to keep residents and businesses informed when public-facing systems are ready to go live.

As the City of Flint works to restore its systems safely, state-of-the-art safeguards are being installed to prevent a recurrence. Among other protections, the City of Flint has installed advanced software security on servers and computers on its network.

UPDATE August 22, 2024:

Flint City Administrator Clyde Edwards issued the following statement on the City of Flint’s ongoing recovery from a cyber attack:

“The City of Flint has made progress toward restoring our internal processes and we are hopeful that billing functionality for the public will be restored sometime next week. Thank you to Flint residents and community partners for your support and patience as we continue to work through the challenges of this cyber attack.”

UPDATE August 20, 2024:

The City of Flint’s IT Department continues to work closely with cybersecurity incident response experts and the FBI to recover from the disruption to the City’s network that began last Wednesday, August 14.

The Flint City Council Committee Meetings are cancelled for tomorrow due to technological and staffing issues. Finance, Legislative and Governmental Operations Committees were scheduled for Wednesday, August 21 at 5 p.m.

The City of Flint has restored some critical functions internally, but continues to ask for residents’ patience while the billing system remains offline. We want to emphasize that there will be no late fees or water shutoffs at this time. We appreciate everyone who has continued to pay their bills by cash and check.

“We are not out of the woods yet, but our team is working around the clock and making significant progress to overcome this cyber attack,” Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said. “Attacks on our communities, organizations, and businesses are becoming more commonplace, but we will fight our way through. We appreciate the patience of the public while we are battling back.”

Initial Notification: August 15, 2024:

City of Flint is experiencing an internal network and internet outage caused by a criminal ransomware attack. Disruptions began in the early hours of Wednesday, August 14, 2024.

The FBI and Attorney General’s Office are involved in the investigation. The City’s IT Department is working with cyber security experts to better understand what has occurred and what to expect as progress is made to restore service. The City does not yet have a timeline for restoration.

We are investigating whether resident or employee personal data has been impacted. As always, we encourage individuals to take action to protect themselves from identity theft.

Municipalities and organizations across Michigan have been hit by cyber attacks in recent months. While unfortunate for all, this means that the City of Flint can bring tested resources to bear in its response.

“We are working hard to resolve this issue and to minimize disruption for Flint residents,” Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said. “I want to thank our staff and partners for their hard work.”