ADA Title II ยท Budgeting
What PDF remediation costs a municipality, and how to shrink the bill
Quotes for making PDFs accessible vary widely. The price depends less on the vendor than on how many pages you send, what kind of pages they are, and how many you should have sent at all. Here is what drives the cost and how to compare quotes.
The biggest saving comes before anyone fixes a file
Many municipalities price the whole document center: every PDF ever posted. Under the ADA Title II rule, a large share of those files can go into a labeled archive or come down entirely. Sorting first is the single biggest way to cut the cost. How the archived content exception works.
What drives the cost
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Page count | Most vendors price by the page. A 200-page budget costs more than a two-page notice. |
| Scans | A scanned page is a picture. It needs text recognition, and every number has to be checked against the original. In our 2026 study, about half of the failing municipal PDFs were untagged or plain scans. |
| Tables | Budgets, fee schedules and financial statements need each table built so a screen reader can tell which header goes with which cell. |
| Images, maps and charts | Each needs a written description. Zoning maps and engineering drawings take the longest. |
| Fillable forms | Turning a printed form into one people can fill in on screen is extra work, often priced separately. |
| How the files were made | A PDF exported from a Word file with real headings is quick to finish. A PDF printed from scanned paper is not. |
| Turnaround | Rush work near a deadline usually costs more. |
Per page or fixed price?
A per-page rate looks simple but leaves the total open until the work is done. A fixed price for a defined set of files tells you the total before you sign. Either way, ask for a written count of files and pages first, and make sure the quote says what happens to files added after the count.
Questions to ask any vendor
- How is each fixed file checked? Look for a named standard checker, such as veraPDF for PDF/UA, plus a person reviewing what software cannot judge.
- Who checks the numbers in scanned budgets and tables against the original?
- Will the fixed files keep their original file names, so existing links keep working?
- Do you help sort files into fix, archive and remove, or do you fix whatever we send?
- Do we get a report listing every file and its result?
- What does it cost to keep new agendas and minutes accessible each month?
- Will you fix our templates, so we stop creating new problems?
A worked example
The Town of Alder Falls, a fictional town of 9,000 people, finds 1,200 PDFs on its website. Here is how sorting changes the job.
| Group | Files | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicates, drafts and expired notices | 220 | Removed |
| Minutes and agendas older than two years, annual reports, old newsletters | 640 | Moved to a labeled archive, fixed only if someone asks |
| Current forms, applications, permits, budget, ordinances, recent agendas and minutes | 340 | Fixed now |
The town pays to fix 340 files instead of 1,200, and switches its agenda template so new files come out accessible. The numbers here are made up to show the method. Your own count will differ.
Costs that are easy to miss
- Staff time to replace the files on the website, unless the vendor does the swap.
- Documents on outside platforms, such as agenda management or permitting systems, which may need their own fix.
- Keeping up: new agendas and minutes go up every week.
This guide explains federal rules in plain language. It is not legal advice. Check the current text of the rule, and ask your municipal attorney about your own situation.
Get a fixed price for your own documents
We count the documents on your site for free, sort them into fix, archive and remove, and give you one fixed price in writing.