Is Boulder's Website Ready for the ADA Title II Deadline?
Did you know the deadline already changed?
The deadline you may have written down last year is no longer the right one. A DOJ Interim Final Rule issued April 20, 2026 extended the original ADA Title II dates by one year, so Boulder now has until April 26, 2027. That extra year is exactly the window to find and fix problems before enforcement begins — the DOJ has given no signal that the date will move again.
Boulder's latest accessibility scan
Overall compliance risk: High — 1 citizen service residents with disabilities may be unable to use
⚠ Critical Service Risk
These citizen services appear to have no accessible alternative pathway — the highest-exposure findings in this scan:
- Permit or license application — The only pathway we found for this service fails 3 serious accessibility checks — including: buttons have no accessible name — assistive tech users can't tell what they do. Residents using assistive technology may be unable to complete it.
Top issues, in plain English
- critical ARIA accessibility attributes are used incorrectly and may mislead screen readers (WCAG 4.1.2 · 70 pages)
- critical Buttons have no accessible name — assistive tech users can't tell what they do (WCAG 4.1.2 · 16 pages)
- serious Embedded frames have no title, so screen readers announce them as unnamed (WCAG 4.1.2 · 19 pages)
- serious Elements must only use permitted ARIA attributes (WCAG 4.1.2 · 16 pages)
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What WCAG 2.1 Level AA means for city government websites
Because Boulder serves 106,803 residents — above the DOJ's 50,000-person threshold — it falls in the first enforcement wave, with the earlier of the two federal deadlines.
The rule points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA — a widely used technical checklist. Stripped of jargon, it asks simple questions: can a blind resident using a screen reader pay a bill on your site? Can someone who can't use a mouse complete a form with just a keyboard? Is the text readable against its background?
For first-wave entities, the practical risk isn't only DOJ action — it's private lawsuits and demand letters that cite the federal standard the moment the deadline passes.
Boulder is a major population center, and its website is the front door for utility bill payment, permit applications, and public meeting agendas. Under ADA Title II, that front door has to work for every resident.
Don't find out about problems from a demand letter
A11yCheck monitors Boulder's website continuously and sends a plain-English weekly digest — no technical background needed.