Wilmer, a town of just under 4,000 people in north Texas, was struck in August 2019 by a ransomware attack suspected to have originated in China or Russia that took its municipal computers offline.
The town was one of the most badly hit areas as 22 other state and local governments in Texas were targeted on the same day, which triggered a "Level 2 Escalated Response," the second-highest possible emergency response level.
Hackers who claimed responsibility for the attacks demanded a total $2.5 million ransom.
Lubbock County issued a quick response, taking their own files offline and preventing hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovery efforts, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Other governments refused to pay and worked in conjunction with the Texas Department of Informational Resources, but services like 911 and online payments took weeks to recover as officials turned to handwritten records.