Website Accessibility & Compliance Audit
Score Breakdown
This site does not currently meet ADA Title II requirements
The audit identified 7 critical failures and 16 additional issues across WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508, and security standards. 3 critical failures (missing alt text, unlabeled form fields, keyboard navigation trap) are the most common triggers for DOJ enforcement letters and resident complaints under Title II.
With the April 24, 2026 Wave 1 deadline applying to jurisdictions serving 50,000+ population, immediate remediation is recommended. The Priority Fix Roadmap below identifies 4 low-effort fixes that can be completed within one week and will resolve 60% of the compliance gap.
7 Issues — Full Detail with Regulatory Citations
Every finding includes the specific WCAG success criterion, legal citation, impact analysis, and recommended fix.
Images missing alternative text
14 images across 6 pages have no alt attribute or an empty alt attribute that is not intentional. Screen reader users cannot perceive the content of these images.
Compliance impact
Violates ADA Title II WCAG 2.1 AA mandate. DOJ enforcement letters typically cite 1.1.1 failures first. This finding alone constitutes non-compliance under the April 24, 2026 rule.
Recommended fix
Add descriptive alt attributes to all informational images. For decorative images, use alt="" (empty string). Priority pages: homepage hero, news section images, department logos.
Insufficient color contrast on primary navigation
Navigation link text (#999999 on #ffffff background) has a contrast ratio of 2.85:1. WCAG 2.1 AA requires a minimum ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text.
Compliance impact
Affects users with low vision and color deficiencies — estimated 8% of the population. Navigation is the primary means of site access. Failure here affects every page visit.
Recommended fix
Change navigation link color to #595959 or darker on white backgrounds to achieve minimum 7:1 contrast. Retest with WebAIM Contrast Checker after update.
Form fields missing programmatic labels
The public comment submission form and permit application form have 8 input fields with no associated <label> element. Visual placeholder text disappears on focus and is not accessible to screen readers.
Compliance impact
Keyboard-only and screen reader users cannot complete these forms. Public comment and permit submission are core government services — inaccessibility here triggers DOJ enforcement under Title II.
Recommended fix
Add <label for="fieldId"> elements to all form inputs. Do not use placeholder as a substitute for labels. Add aria-describedby for helper text.
PDF documents are not accessible
11 PDF documents linked from the site (meeting agendas, budget documents, ordinances) are scanned images with no text layer. Screen readers receive no content.
Compliance impact
Residents who are blind cannot access public meeting agendas, budget documents, or municipal ordinances — all public records. This is a pattern of systematic exclusion under Title II.
Recommended fix
Run PDFs through Adobe Acrobat's accessibility check. For scanned documents, use OCR to create a text layer, then tag the document structure (headings, lists, tables). Alternatively, provide an accessible HTML version alongside each PDF.
Keyboard navigation trap in modal dialogs
The emergency alert banner modal and the contact form overlay trap keyboard focus. Users cannot tab out of these dialogs and cannot close them without a mouse.
Compliance impact
Keyboard-only users (which includes many users with motor disabilities) are completely trapped on these interactive elements, effectively preventing site use.
Recommended fix
Implement focus management: on modal open, move focus to the dialog container. Trap focus within the dialog while open. On Escape or close button, return focus to the triggering element.
Heading hierarchy skips levels on interior pages
Interior department pages jump from <h1> to <h4> without <h2> or <h3> in between. This breaks the document outline used by screen reader navigation.
Compliance impact
Screen reader users rely on heading navigation to scan long pages. A broken hierarchy forces linear reading of all content.
Recommended fix
Audit and correct heading structure across all interior pages. The pattern should be: H1 (page title) → H2 (major sections) → H3 (subsections). Never skip levels for visual styling purposes.
Missing HTTPS security and HSTS header
The site serves content over HTTP on several subdomain paths. The Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) header is not set, allowing downgrade attacks.
Compliance impact
For sites processing public contact forms or permit applications, lack of HTTPS exposes resident data. Federal grant compliance (FTA, HUD, FEMA) requires secure transmission of any PII.
Recommended fix
Force HTTPS redirect at the server level. Add: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains to all responses. Verify with securityheaders.com.
Priority Fix Roadmap
Issues ordered by compliance impact and implementation effort. Start here.
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