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How to budget for PDF accessibility in a small city
Short answer: Most small cities can keep the cost of PDF accessibility to a few thousand dollars by archiving reference-only documents, automating simple text documents (under $1 per page), and paying for manual work only on forms and complex files. Budget separately for training and a validation tool so new documents are accessible from the start.
Budget lines
| Line | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory of PDFs | Staff time | One person, a site crawler or CMS export, a spreadsheet |
| Free validation tools | $0 | PAC (Windows) and veraPDF are free; NVDA screen reader is free |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro for the document owner | Subscription per user | For manual fixes and checking |
| Automated remediation | $0.45 to $2 per page | For text documents and clean scans |
| Manual remediation | $4 to $11.50+ per page; higher for forms | For forms and complex layouts |
| Training for document authors | Staff time | Word headings, alt text, accessibility checker |
Example: town of 12,000
- 400 PDFs on the website, 2,000 pages in total.
- 250 files (1,200 pages) are past minutes and old reports → moved to an archive area. Cost: staff time.
- 130 files (700 pages) are text documents in use → automated with one Bulk pack (1,000 pages, $449), which leaves 300 pages for new documents.
- 20 files (100 pages) are forms and brochures → rebuilt as web forms or remediated manually: roughly $1,000 to $2,000.
- Ongoing: new agendas and minutes, about 40 pages a week. Fix at the source in Word; automated remediation as a backstop costs well under $1,000 a year.
Spread it out
Because the deadline for small governments is April 26, 2028, you can spread the work across two budget years: inventory and archive in the first, remediation of active documents and training in the second. Prioritize forms and anything people need to get a service, because those are most likely to generate a complaint.
What not to buy
Be wary of anything that promises “guaranteed ADA compliance” for your PDFs. Software can test only part of what WCAG requires; the rest needs a person. Ask any vendor what their validation covers and what you still have to check.
Frequently asked questions
- When do small cities need to be ready?
- April 26, 2028 for governments with a total population under 50,000.
- Can this be paid with a purchasing card?
- Many self-service tools, including ours, accept card payment, which suits small purchases under a purchasing card limit. Check your own procurement rules.