The cities of Texarkana, Texas, and Arkansas were hit with a ransomware attack on December 28, 2020, and are still struggling a month later. Texarkana Water Utilities launched a new site and has created a workaround for water bills, but here are some other answers to common issues that you may need.
Birth certificates can be sought from Cass County (903) 756-5071, Titus County (903) 577-6786, or ordered online from the State of Texas at www.texas.gov (scroll half way down on the main page and find “Birth Certificates” under popular searches). For a passport, birth certificates should be ordered online for $23, unless the birth occurred in one of these neighboring counties.
Death certificates have to be ordered online for $21 at www.texas.gov.
Access to Public Records are not available at this time.
Special Event Permits and Itinerant Vendor Permits are currently unavailable.
Freedom of Information Act requests will be processed as normal, but due to a loss of data/records, some information will not be available.
At this time, the City cannot pay invoices by check, but can make payment by using wire transfers or credit cards.
Payments received for bills paid will be issued a hand receipt at this time.
An employee with the city of Texarkana Texas, that asked to remain anonymous, said, “We are all just kind of stuck right now. Nobody has asked for ransom or anything, so we are just at a standstill while we look for other options going forward”. Officials with the city of Texarkana Texas were unable to confirm or deny this to us at the time of this posting.