Blog 1 — The Local Edge — 11.26.25: WCAG 2.1 Level AA: A Practical Compliance Guide for Local Governments
By Mark Grabow, Principal Consultant, Local Efficiency Solutions
If you run a city, county, or special district website, the new federal ADA web-accessibility rule is no longer “coming someday” - it now has hard deadlines and a rising wave of lawsuits behind it.
In the very first episode of The Local Edge podcast, I broke down exactly what the Department of Justice now requires, the real deadlines by population size, the big exceptions that save you work, and most importantly - I gave away the exact project-management checklist I use with Oregon cities to stay on track.
Here it is in written form, plus the free tool I created for managing web content accessibility upgrades.
Prefer to watch/listen? Full Episode 1 here:
Why this matters in 2025–2026
April 2024: DOJ officially adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the new technical standard for state and local government websites and mobile apps.
Lawsuits are spiking: +37 % in the first half of 2025 alone (2,014 new website ADA cases Jan–Jun 2025).
Your deadline depends on population served:
• 50,000+ → Must be compliant by April 24, 2026
• Under 50,000 (and special districts) → April 26, 2027
Five big exceptions that save you time & money
You do NOT have to retroactively fix:
Archived web content
Old PDFs and pre-existing documents (unless you’re actively updating them)
Third-party content you don’t control
Password-protected individualized documents
Old social media posts
Your free tool – WCAG 2.1 AA Project Manager Checklist
I took the entire 150+ page WCAG manual and turned it into a simple, tick-the-box Google Sheets tracker that cities actually use.
WCAG 2.1 Level AA Project Manager Success Criteria Checklist.
A tool to streamline ADA compliance.
Live preview (read-only):
Get your own editable copy (free forever):
What the checklist does:
Breaks WCAG into the four principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust)
Color-coded: Orange = Level A | Red = Level AA (what you need) | Gray = AAA (ignore for now)
Live links to every success criterion
Columns to check “Compliant,” “Task Assigned,” “Done,” and notes
Works in Excel too (File → Download → Microsoft Excel)
Next steps for you this week
Make your copy of the checklist
Run a quick scan on your homepage with the free WAVE tool (wave.webaim.org) to see the biggest gaps
Put the correct deadline (2026 or 2027) on your team’s calendar
Need help prioritizing what to fix first or want a second set of eyes? Email me at mark@localefficiency.com. I am always happy to chat about how to optimize public service delivery!
Listen/Watch the full Episode 1 (12 minutes)
Want access to the full set of FREE Local Edge tools for all you public sector efficiency warriors? Click here:
If this helped, please share it with someone you think would also find value in it. As the tide rises - so do the boats in the harbor.
Go forth and do good things.
— Mark Grabow, Founder and Principal Consultant
Local Efficiency Solutions, LLC
