Inventory the public PDFs before setting the remediation budget.
Start with the documents residents use today, identify who owns them, and separate urgent services and forms from material that needs a retention or legal decision. The audit provides the list; the public entity decides what must remain available and what moves into remediation.
Large public entities should plan around the April 26, 2027 ADA Title II technical deadline. Smaller entities and special districts should review the April 26, 2028 deadline.
Common local government PDF problems
- Meeting packets and agendas posted as untagged PDFs.
- Permit forms with unlabeled form fields.
- Scanned ordinances, minutes, and archived notices.
- Budget reports with complex tables and multi-column layouts.
- Department pages with old PDFs no one owns anymore.
A better remediation plan
Prioritize by public impact, not file age alone
- Resident task: Start with documents needed to apply, pay, register, comment, or receive a public service.
- Current use: Confirm whether the PDF is still linked, distributed, or required by a current process.
- Department owner: Assign someone who can confirm the content and approve a replacement or remediated version.
- Document complexity: Flag scans, forms, long tables, and multi-column reports before setting timing or budget.
For the current technical dates and coverage overview, use the ADA Title II PDF compliance guide.
Review the backlog department by department
Clerk and council
Agendas, minutes, ordinances, election notices, and meeting packets.
Finance
Budgets, annual reports, purchasing documents, and table-heavy statements.
Planning and permits
Applications, checklists, maps, public notices, and fillable forms.
Decisions the audit cannot make for you
The inventory does not determine whether a document is legally exempt, whether an archive can be removed, or whether HTML should replace a PDF. Those decisions belong to the public entity, its records owners, and its legal or accessibility advisers. The audit is useful because those decisions can be made from a concrete list rather than an estimate.
Useful official sources
Use these primary sources when confirming local government accessibility duties.
Related planning resources
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Tell us about your public PDF backlog, timeline, and accessibility goals so our team can help you plan the next step.
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