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Government website accessibility audit checklist

What to include in a municipal website accessibility audit: resident tasks, representative pages, PDFs, manual testing, and a prioritized remediation report.

By HiperFusion · Reviewed September 13, 2026

Start with the tasks residents need to finish

An audit should examine more than the homepage. List the routes people use to find meeting notices, read agendas, apply for permits, pay bills, contact staff, and request services. Include mobile navigation and the search results that lead to these tasks. Identify who owns each system, including tools supplied by other vendors.

Choose a representative sample

Inventory page templates, departments, forms, document libraries, and embedded services. Include a long content page, an alert, a calendar, and pages with tables or downloads. Record which pages and states are tested and which are outside scope. Sampling helps find shared defects; it does not establish that every untested page conforms.

Combine automated checks with manual evaluation

Automated tools can identify some missing names, structural problems, and contrast failures. Manual evaluation should cover keyboard operation, visible and unobscured focus, meaningful reading order, zoom and reflow, form instructions and errors, and assistive-technology journeys. A high Lighthouse score alone is not a conformance determination.

Treat documents and third-party services as explicit scope

Count PDFs and office documents, identify frequently used forms and current public notices, and decide which content should become HTML. Ask who can change the payment portal, booking system, or embedded map. Record barriers and vendor responsibilities instead of assuming external tools are accessible.

Request findings your team can act on

Each finding should identify its location, the affected task, reproduction steps, relevant WCAG criterion, recommended correction, and retest result. Prioritize barriers that prevent essential tasks, then shared components and recurring content problems. Agree ownership, acceptance evidence, and staff training before work begins.

Prepare for a scoped review

Send your website address, CMS name if known, important resident tasks, approximate document count, and any procurement or timing constraints. HiperFusion accessibility audits and prioritized roadmaps start at $1,500; the final scope depends on the number of templates, workflows, and documents. No sensitive resident records are needed to start.

Official references

HiperFusion provides technical accessibility services and does not provide legal advice. Explore our accessibility audit service or read more planning resources.

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