Accessibility
Accessible budget PDFs, ahead of the deadline.
Under the ADA’s Title II web rule, the documents your government posts online must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We tag and repair the PDFs you have and set up templates so new ones start out accessible.
The rule, in brief
PDFs count, not just web pages.
In April 2024 the Department of Justice set a technical standard for the websites of state and local governments: WCAG 2.1 Level AA. It covers documents posted online, such as budget PDFs, as well as the pages themselves.
In April 2026 the department moved the compliance dates back a year. Governments serving 50,000 people or more have until April 26, 2027. Smaller governments and special districts have until April 26, 2028.
Some older documents posted before your date are exempt, but a budget you post after it has to conform. Of the 11,171 budget PDFs in our research, 71% had no accessibility tags at all.
This is a summary for planning, not legal advice.
- Rule published
- Deadlines moved back a year
- Governments serving 50,000 or more
- All other governments and special districts
What remediation includes
What a screen reader needs from a budget.
A budget is mostly tables and charts, which is exactly what an untagged PDF loses. Each file we deliver gets all of this.
Tags and reading order
Headings, lists and paragraphs tagged so a screen reader announces them, in the order a sighted reader would follow.
Tables that make sense
Header cells marked on every financial table, so a screen reader can say which fund and which year each number belongs to.
Charts described
Alt text that gives the figures a chart shows, rather than just the word “chart”.
Document settings
Title, language and bookmarks set, so the PDF can be identified and navigated.
Checked twice
An automated check against PDF/UA, then a manual pass with a screen reader.
A conformance report
For each file, a short record of what was checked and what was fixed, for your files.
Fix it once
Templates, so next year’s budget starts accessible.
Repairing the same document every year is slow and expensive. Along with the fixes, we set up accessible templates in the tools your staff already uses, so the next budget comes out tagged without a second round of remediation.
We also fix the other documents residents rely on: annual financial reports, agendas, minutes and forms.
Questions about the rule
Do we have to fix every old PDF on our site?
Not necessarily. The rule has exceptions for some documents posted before your compliance date. We help you decide what to fix first, starting with the documents residents use most.
Isn’t an accessibility widget enough?
No. Overlay widgets change how a web page is displayed. They don’t add tags to a PDF, so a screen reader still can’t follow your budget’s tables.
How long does remediation take?
It depends on the number of pages and how many tables and charts they hold. Your quote comes with a schedule.
What do we get at the end?
The repaired PDFs, a conformance report for each, and accessible templates for the documents you publish every year.
Get ahead of the deadline.
Send us your budget and we’ll quote the repairs and the templates as one fixed fee.