The city of Tomball is now able to accept credit card, debit card and online payments for utility bills, the city announced via a March 3 news release. This comes after the city’s utility billing system was down following a ransomware attack last December.

“As of last week, all payment methods are now available so we can take online payments, credit payments in person or online,” Assistant City Manager Jessica Rogers said in a presentation to City Council on March 6. “And all of our normal online payment systems are back operational.”

Since Dec. 20, while the utility billing system was down, Rogers said city staff inserted about 3,000 manual payments through check or money order.

In getting the utility billing system back up, Rogers said there have been some changes.

“First is that the city can no longer process manual bank drafts,” Rogers said. “So any of the customers who were on manual drafts, we’re encouraging them to go through the online system and re-set that back up.”

When it comes to payments, automatic drafts have been canceled to ensure customers are not charged for multiple bills and customers can continue to pay in person, via phone, through the city’s night dropbox or by mail, according to the news release.

The city is also extending the due date for January bills to April 28, according to the news release.

In her presentation, Rogers also shared the city’s planned billing schedule for the next several months.

“With May, we will resume our normal schedule, which is bill issuance by the 10th of the month and bills due by the last day of the month,” Rogers said. “With all of this, I will say that we’re very very flexible, and we do encourage any customers to contact us if there is any concerns about the ability to pay or this process.”