# Does a city website have to meet the ADA web rule?

Yes — for cities, towns, and townships, Title II of the ADA is the rule that the public website must work for people with disabilities. The 2024 web rule names the yardstick and the start dates. Commercial pages that say “ADA compliant” often speak to private businesses under Title III instead.

## The honest answer for a city

If you run a **city, town, township, or special district** public website, **Title II** is the title that applies. People who use a screen reader, captions, a keyboard, or larger text still need licenses, packets, and utility pages. The federal web rule is how the Department of Justice wrote that duty for **web content and mobile apps**.

Primary sources: [ADA.gov web rule fact sheet](https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/) and [28 CFR 35.200](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-28/chapter-I/part-35/subpart-H/section-35.200) (WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical yardstick for covered content).

## Why Google often shows a business page first

Search “does my website have to be ADA compliant” and you will see overlay vendors, checkers, and law-firm posts aimed at **private** sites. Those pages are useful as a warning: they rarely explain **Title II**, population bands, or what a **clerk file** looks like.

For cities, prefer:

- [What Title II is](/title-ii) — why the public website must work for people with disabilities
- [Title II vs Title III](/blog/title-ii-vs-title-iii-city-websites) — who each title covers
- [If you miss](/enforcement) — complaint / court order language, not a Title III fine chart
- [Overlay](/overlay) — a widget is not the WCAG method for the content

## Dates (keep these straight)

- **26 April 2027** — 50,000 or more people (Census 2020)
- **26 April 2028** — under 50,000, and special districts

After that date the public website still has to keep meeting the standard. A one-time binder does not retire the duty. Longer date note: [When Title II starts to judge the public website](/blog/title-ii-website-dates).

## What ActaPack is (and isn’t)

We look at **public pages and public PDFs** and send a **dated monthly file** plus tickets the website vendor can run. **$8,400/year.** We do **not** certify compliance, sell an overlay, or stamp WCAG.

Sign in if a sample file would help council see the shape of the work.

## This month

Attach a dated file that someone looked at the public pages. Forward tickets. Do not wait for a widget certificate. We do not certify WCAG conformance.

## For implementers

When a clerk forwards a vendor blog titled “Does my website have to be ADA compliant?”, answer with Title II, 28 CFR 35.200, and the population-band dates — not a Title III checklist. Scope the crawl to public pages and public PDFs in v1.