Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement

How assessorpropertysearch.org/ Works for People With Disabilities

This page sets out our commitment to accessibility on this site, the standards we work to (WCAG 2.1 Level AA), the assistive technologies we test against, the U.S. legal framework, the specific features we’ve built, the limitations we know about (including in some county property-search portals we link to), and how to tell us about a barrier you’ve encountered.

Effective date: January 1, 2026
Last reviewed: April 2026
Standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA

What’s on this page

  1. Our commitment
  2. WCAG 2.1 AA
  3. Legal framework
  4. Features we’ve built
  5. AT compatibility
  6. Known limitations
  7. County property-search portals
  8. Reporting a barrier
  9. Escalation
  10. Review cycle

1. Our Commitment

assessorpropertysearch.org/ is built so that anyone — using any device, any browser, any assistive technology — can find their county assessor's office, follow a step-by-step property-search walkthrough, find the right exemption form with its deadline, and reach the right desk without barriers. Accessibility is not an afterthought. It is part of every editorial template, every CSS rule, every navigation pattern. We test against assistive technologies on every major page template before publication and on a quarterly cycle thereafter.

2. Standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA

We work to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This is the standard the U.S. Department of Justice has long used as the benchmark for ADA website accessibility, and it is the procurement standard for federal-agency websites under Section 508 (which references WCAG 2.0 Level AA in the 2017 Refresh; we target the slightly newer 2.1 AA).

4. Specific Accessibility Features We’ve Built

Semantic HTML

Proper heading hierarchy (Yoast manages H1; H2/H3 in our templates), <nav>, <main>, <article>, <section>, <footer> landmarks.

17px+ body text

Body copy is at least 17px on all pages — comfortable reading for most users without zoom.

4.5:1+ text contrast

All body text meets WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1) against its background; large text and UI components meet 3:1 minimum.

Keyboard-only navigation

Every link, button, form control, and interactive element is reachable and operable using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Space.

Visible focus indicators

Focus outlines are not removed; the default browser focus ring is preserved on every interactive element.

Descriptive link text

Links describe their destination — e.g., “California State Board of Equalization” rather than “click here.” Each external link has rel=”noopener” and target=”_blank”.

Logical reading order

Source-order matches visual order; CSS layout never reverses, scrambles, or hides content from screen readers.

Responsive without zoom traps

Pages reflow at 320px width; pinch-zoom is not disabled; user-scalable=yes.

Form labels

Every form control has a programmatic <label> or aria-label; error messages are announced.

Reduced motion

The site respects prefers-reduced-motion and avoids gratuitous animation.

Plain-English drafts

Walkthroughs, exemption summaries, and appeal-procedure descriptions are written at roughly an 8th–10th grade reading level.

HTML walkthroughs as alternative

Where a county property-search portal has accessibility barriers, our HTML walkthrough provides an alternative path to the same information.

5. Assistive Technology Compatibility

We test against the following combinations on every major page template before publication:

  • NVDA + Firefox / Chrome on Windows
  • JAWS + Chrome on Windows
  • VoiceOver + Safari on macOS
  • VoiceOver + Safari on iOS
  • TalkBack + Chrome on Android
  • Narrator + Edge on Windows (smoke test)
  • Dragon NaturallySpeaking — voice-only navigation smoke test
  • Browser zoom at 200% and 400%
  • High-contrast mode in Windows and macOS

6. Known Limitations

  • Some third-party advertising units may not always meet our internal standards. We work with our advertising partners and reject ad units that fail material accessibility checks.
  • Embedded videos from third-party platforms inherit those platforms’ accessibility features (or limitations); we link to transcripts or captioning where the source provides them.
  • Some legacy guides built before our current accessibility framework may have minor remaining issues — we are working through them on a rolling quarterly review and welcome reports.

7. County Property-Search Portals Are Not Always Accessible

County property-search portals often have residual accessibility gaps

Many county assessor and appraisal-district online property-search portals have residual accessibility gaps on certain assistive-technology combinations — uncaptioned video tutorials, modal dialogs that trap focus, dynamic search-result tables that don’t announce updates to screen readers, GIS map interfaces with poor keyboard accessibility, payment-form fields without proper labels, or required-field indicators conveyed by colour alone. This is not within our control — those are the county’s own systems, governed by ADA Title II (state and local government). We provide HTML walkthroughs of property-search procedures as an alternative path to the same information, so that, in many cases, you can plan and prepare your search from our fully accessible HTML before you encounter the county portal itself.

If you cannot use a county’s property-search portal because of an accessibility barrier, you have rights under ADA Title II. The U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal is at ada.gov. You can also contact the county’s ADA coordinator directly — most counties maintain one. For federal-agency content (IRS, HUD, GSA, BIA), barriers are addressable under Section 504 / Section 508; the U.S. Access Board provides technical assistance at access-board.gov.

8. Reporting a Barrier

If you encounter a barrier — a page or feature that doesn’t work with your assistive technology, contrast that’s hard to read, a control that can’t be reached by keyboard, or anything else that gets in your way — please tell us. Reports drive our priority queue.

Email info@assessorpropertysearch.org with subject line “Accessibility issue”.

If you can, include:

  • The page URL where you hit the barrier
  • Your operating system and browser
  • The assistive technology you were using (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack, Dragon)
  • What you were trying to do
  • What happened (or didn’t happen)
Response targets

Acknowledge in 1–3 business days. Substantive response or fix within 14 business days for most issues. For severe barriers (e.g., unable to access important content or complete a critical task), within 5 business days.

9. Escalation

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have additional options:

  • U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal — ada.gov
  • U.S. Access Board (Section 508 technical assistance) — access-board.gov
  • Your state attorney general’s civil-rights division — contacts vary by state; search “[state name] attorney general civil rights”
  • Your state ADA coordinator — most states have an ADA coordinator office that handles complaints about state-government and county-government websites
  • Federal Communications Commission (CVAA) for telecommunications/video issues — fcc.gov

10. Review Cycle

This statement is reviewed quarterly. Page templates are re-tested against the AT combinations above on each review cycle. The “Last reviewed” date at the top reflects the most recent review.

Hit a Barrier? Tell Us.

Email us with subject line “Accessibility issue.” Acknowledge in 1–3 business days; fix within 14 business days for most issues, 5 for severe.

📧 info@assessorpropertysearch.org