Web Accessibility for Small Local Governments: What April 2028 Requires

Most residents come to a local government website with a specific goal in mind. They’re trying to pay a bill, submit a form, find a meeting agenda, or access a service.

When that experience doesn’t work due to digital accessibility issues, the impact is immediate. Residents can’t complete tasks independently, while staff time shifts toward support, troubleshooting, and workarounds. That pressure has grown as more local government services move online.

In 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) updated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to establish clearer digital accessibility requirements for local governments. Communities serving fewer than 50,000 residents, including special districts, must meet those requirements by Spring 2028.

This article outlines what the rule requires and how small local government teams can begin building a sustainable path forward.

What the DOJ Title II Rule Requires of Local Governments

The rule requires state and local governments, including special districts, to ensure that their public-facing web and mobile content meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. That includes:

• Website pages and navigation
• Mobile applications (apps)
• PDFs and downloadable documents
• Video and multimedia content

It also applies to the tools residents use to access services, even when those tools are provided by a vendor. If those systems aren’t accessible, the responsibility doesn’t stop with the vendor. The local government is still responsible for ensuring residents can access and complete those services.

Related: 9 Steps to Meet the DOJ’s Web Accessibility Ruling

For communications teams, this means accessibility shows up in daily work. Every page update, document upload, or form change has the potential to introduce a barrier if accessibility isn’t built into the process.

When Do Small Communities Need to Comply?

The compliance deadline has been extended to April 26, 2028, for local governments with populations under 50,000 and special districts.

While the DOJ deadline to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards has been extended by a year, residents can raise accessibility issues and legal claims against entities today. Local governments have a legal and enforceable obligation to provide accessible digital services under ADA Title II.

Why Small Communities Face Unique Accessibility Risk

No matter the community size, residents want to find information, complete transactions, and participate in local government online. And they believe accessibility should be a primary focus for local governments: 59% of residents say making government websites accessible should be a priority, and 63% say accessibility features are highly important.

For smaller communities, the challenge is how to meet those expectations with limited staff, competing priorities, and a constant flow of new content.

Lean Teams and Competing Priorities

In many communities, communications and public information officer (PIO) responsibilities include website updates, social media, emergency messaging, and document publishing. Accessibility may not have a dedicated owner, and staff responsible for publishing content may not have formal training in accessibility standards.

That makes maintaining consistency difficult. Without clear ownership and shared practices, accessibility work can become reactive.

Heavy Reliance on Documents and Forms

Public-facing documents and forms often carry a large share of the resident experience. Agendas, meeting packets, permits, and applications are routinely published as PDFs.

This is content that residents use to review local government decisions, apply for services, and participate in public meetings. So, when those documents are inaccessible, the barrier is immediate. A resident may not be able to read a meeting packet, complete an application, or understand what action to take next without assistance.

Related: Document Accessibility vs. Form Digitization: Why Local Governments Need Both

The Influx of New Content Makes One-Time Fixes Unsustainable

With limited staff capacity, maintaining consistent accessibility across new and updated content is difficult. Agendas are posted weekly. Forms change. New pages go live. Without a process in place, the same types of accessibility issues tend to reappear. A page may be corrected, but the next upload could introduce the same accessibility barrier again.

Over time, this creates a reactive accessibility cycle that leads to recurring work that becomes harder to manage as content libraries grow. This also likely leads to resident complaints.

Complaints Create Compressed Timelines

Residents can file accessibility complaints when they can’t access digital services. Responding to those issues often requires audits, documentation, and defined timelines for correction.

Not only can audits and complaints result in fines and legal costs, but another risk is loss of flexibility. At that point, timelines and required fixes may be defined by external parties, which can expand the scope of work and accelerate deadlines. This shift can place additional pressure on staff and redirect time and resources away from other planned priorities.

Where to Start Without Overcomplicating Accessibility Work

For small teams, one of the biggest web accessibility challenges is knowing where to begin.

The most effective starting point is to focus on three areas: visibility, prioritization, and audit.

• Visibility: Start by understanding what your team manages. Identify your web pages, documents, forms, and the tools residents use to complete tasks. Many teams find that their digital footprint is larger than expected once everything is accounted for.
• Prioritization: From there, focus on the content residents use most, like service forms, frequently accessed documents, and high-traffic pages. These are the areas where accessibility gaps are most likely to affect participation and service delivery.
• Audit: Finally, conduct a review to establish a baseline and understand current accessibility issues. Use this baseline as a starting point to guide next steps and to track and measure progress.

This approach keeps the work manageable. It also creates a structure that can be expanded over time.

Accessibility Is an Ongoing Part of Operations

The deadline extension gives small local governments more room to approach accessibility in a structured way. Use this time to your advantage. Rushed, one-time fixes rarely hold. The extension creates space to put the right processes in place, so accessibility is built into how work happens going forward.

And keep in mind, web accessibility requirements do not stop after the deadline. Smaller local governments and special districts will need to maintain accessibility across current and future digital content by continuing to align with WCAG 2.1 Level AA guidelines and any future updates.

Accessibility should be built into how content is created, reviewed, and published. When teams use consistent templates, follow basic standards, and review content before it goes live, fewer issues are introduced in the first place. Ongoing monitoring also plays a role. As government websites and content evolve, new accessibility issues can appear. Regular checks help teams catch and address those issues before they grow.

But for many small teams, maintaining that level of consistency with manual processes can be difficult. Solutions that combine automated scanning, expert support, and continuous monitoring can help reduce the workload while improving visibility into accessibility progress.

For example:

• AudioEye combines AI-driven automated fixes, continuous monitoring, certified expert remediation, and compliance reporting to improve ongoing WCAG alignment and provide documented proof of website accessibility efforts.
• DocAccess automatically converts current and future PDFs into WCAG 2.1 AA-aligned, screen reader-friendly HTML transcripts, including complex and scanned PDF documents, with built-in translation and accessibility features.

These types of tools are designed to support the day-to-day reality of small teams, where time and resources are limited but expectations remain high.

Build a Plan Before It Becomes Urgent

If you aren’t sure where your website stands today, a baseline accessibility scan is the best place to start. It provides visibility into current gaps and helps define the next steps in a way that aligns with your team’s capacity. From there, the rest of the plan becomes easier to define, and progress becomes easier to manage.

Get a free web accessibility scan to understand where your website stands and begin building a plan before it becomes urgent.

Disclaimer:

This content is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. CivicPlus makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or suitability of this material and disclaims all liability for actions taken or not taken based on it. Use of this content does not create any attorney-client or advisory relationship. You should consult your own legal counsel before adopting or implementing any policies. CivicPlus may update or withdraw this material at any time without notice.