Wasatch County's newly redesigned website claims the tops spot on the Silktide Index accessibility rankings for local U.S. government websites.
Since its launch in September, Wasatch County’s newly redesigned website has soared to the top spot on the Silktide Index for accessibility rankings among local U.S. government websites.
In April 2024, the Department of Justice updated the regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which includes specific requirements to ensure government web content and mobile apps are accessible to people with disabilities. Now, state and local government web content must comply with globally recognized standards for web accessibility, WCAG 2.1 level AA compliance.
“Accessibility benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities,” said Wasatch County IT Executive Don Wood. “We’re seeing more and more laws being adopted at the state level, including our neighbors in Colorado and Arizona, that require WCAG compliance beyond the federal government’s guidelines. “
Silktide evaluates the web accessibility for public and private sector websites worldwide and assigns scores based on WCAG standards.
In Wasatch County’s latest website evaluation in October, the county scored an impressive 98% overall accessibility score, with outstanding results across all levels.
A – lowest level of compliance; critical accessibility issues you must fix: 99.1%
AA – recommended level of compliance; important accessibility issues you should fix: 98.3%
AAA – highest, most difficult level of compliance; other accessibility issues that are desirable to fix: 95.7%
Full AAA compliance is exceedingly difficult and rare, but Silktide recommends aiming for AA compliance.
“We’re being proactive by not only setting our own standards,” Wood said. “But also by conducting regular accessibility audits, training our staff on accessibility best practices, and engaging with the community to comply to the highest levels of accessibility.”
Central to Wasatch County’s website redesign and transition to a new platform is a commitment to accessibility and empowering residents by connecting them with their data. This includes self-serve digital applications like the Board of Equalization property value appeals system and Property Watch, which alerts property owners to potential fraud by notifying them of any recorded changes to their property.
"We wanted to deliver a digital layer for the communities in Wasatch County that connected our citizens with their data,” Wood said. “More than that, we wanted to create a platform that enabled integration and automation with the back office and create digital services that are accessible.”
Future plans for the website include further redesigns and engaging with the community to gather feedback to continuously improve the website’s usability. By creating a website that everyone can use, the county is also paving the way for future AI innovations.