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County warned of potential six-figure web‑accessibility expense for PDFs under DOJ guidance
Summary
A county staffer said new DOJ guidelines slated for April 2027 will require greater accessibility for PDFs on public websites and estimated remediation could add roughly $40,000 annually beyond the current CivicPlus module; he said the county could reallocate about $25,000 but likely needs an additional $15,000–$17,000.
A county staffer (Speaker 9) briefed commissioners on upcoming Department of Justice guidance for website accessibility, telling the court the rules will take effect in April 2027 and that while the county's CivicPlus website module (about $11,000 per year) meets HTML accessibility standards, it does not automatically remediate the county's more than 3,000 PDF documents. "These guidelines are not going to be impacted, in effect until April 2027," the staffer said, and added that a PDF-remediation module or service was estimated at roughly $40,000 annually.
He said he could reallocate about $25,000 from existing HR allocations but expected the county would likely need an additional $15,000–$17,000. Commissioners discussed whether the cost belongs in the IT or HR budget and noted options such as training staff to assemble accessible PDFs, which would be labor-intensive. The staffer recommended setting an allocation now and watching for price reductions as software vendors adapt.
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