Fort Lupton’s human resources director had some tough financial news for Fort Lupton’s city council during a Nov. 30 town hall. 

The cost of insuring the city against cyber attacks is going up more than 87 percent for 2022. The total amount is more than $184,000. Laura Howe blamed the increase on “a radical shift in the market due to Ransomware.”

Ransomware encrypts files on a computer and makes them and systems that rely on those files unusable. Those behind the attacks often demand ransom to unlock the affected files. 

“We bid this out,” Howe told councilors. “Everyone declined to quote because we are a public entity. Fort Lupton hasn’t done anything good or bad. The industry is unattractive. We’re doing some right things, that’s for sure.” 

The cost of carrying over workers’ compensation insurance is climbing, too. It will jump 14.5 percent and cost an extra $154,000. Fort Lupton had a large workmen’s comp claim almost two years ago that’s still on the carrier’s books. 

“They want to retain our business,” Howe said. 

“It would have gone up anyway,” Mayor Zo Stieber said. 

The cost to cover the city’s boiler and machinery is increasing by 3 percent, or $5,250, next year. 

“It’s not bad,” Howe told council. ‘But it is an increase.” 

House cleaning

Council informally began the process of reorganization after the November election. It was informal because council can’t make decisions in a town-hall format. 

Chris Ceretto is in line to become mayor pro tem. Shannon Rhoda, who was mayor pro tem, lost her bid to become mayor. Bruce Fitzgerald is slated to become the next treasurer for city council. Fort Lupton Police Lieutenant David Hempel is slated to become a member of the E-911 advisory board.