The City of Hamilton has so far spent more than $7.4 million to repair its information technology systems following a crippling ransomware attack in February, the city’s general manager of finance and corporate services said Friday.

Mike Zegarac said at a council meeting that the funds spent so far include nearly $5 million on outside experts, including Deloitte.

The new dollar amount, which reflects spending through July 24, is higher than the $5.7 million spent on reconstruction efforts through May 28, when Zegarac provided the last update.

The city also said it had caught up on vendor payments with the help of Deloitte after its vendor payment system was affected by the hack.

The updated expenditures, which total an estimated $7,402,622, are broken down as follows:

• $4,875,538 for outside experts.
• $1,151,917 for infrastructure.
• $1,085,685 for personnel.
• $289,482 for “other related costs.”

No further details were given as to what the “other” costs include.

In a report submitted to the city council, Zegarac wrote that all goods and services paid for by the city’s emergency operations center, of which he is head, complied with city procedures, including procurement policies. He said spending on reconstruction efforts is continuing.

“The city’s focus has shifted from immediate response to the recovery, restoration and rebuilding/transformation phases,” he wrote.

“We are rebuilding stronger with a focus on customer and employee experience, business solutions, efficiency and increasing resilience to protect against future incidents.”

The ransomware attack knocked out nearly all of the city’s phone lines, shut down the city council and impacted dozens of services, including the bus schedule app, the library’s Wi-Fi and permit applications. The city claims there is no evidence that personal information was stolen.

The city decided not to pay the ransom and instead rebuilt its systems. How much the hackers demanded was not disclosed.