It’s an end-of-school-year surprise that families in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis, France) would have done well without. As they prepare for the summer holidays, a hefty bill arrives in their mailbox. What do they have to pay? Canteen, daycare or leisure center fees for the period from 2022 to August 2023.
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So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But upon discovering the amount requested, the parents in question were shocked. As Le Parisien explains, the amount claimed varies between several hundred euros and 4,000 euros for 7,000 children. To top it off, parents only have thirty days to pay the bills.
As our colleagues from Voix du Nord report, these invoices find their explanation in a cyberattack dating from 2020. “In one night, hackers encrypted the municipality’s data and demanded a ransom in exchange, which was never paid. All data has been lost. Due to technical difficulties, Bondy took more than two years to install new effective software, before gradually starting to clock activities digitally again. Despite the work of city agents to point on paper forms, more than 1.6 million euros in arrears have been recorded. Parents started receiving invoices in April this year,” explains the French newspaper.
“I asked for payment spread over six months, we are not given the possibility of going beyond that. I put money aside to pay this bill, when it should be used to change the fridge or the washing machine”, “There are no details on the days we are present asks to pay. I get lots of bills and I don’t even know what I’m paying for. We are in a downward spiral,” several parents are indignant.
Families gathered last week in front of the municipal treasury to protest. According to Stephen Hervé, the mayor, “the largest amounts correspond to parents with the highest family quotient. Nearly 30% of all invoices have already been paid.” The Bondy Autre association is demanding that one third of the total amount to be made up be covered by the municipal social action center.
