The Association of Communities requested that a requirement to prepare balanced budgets be included in the legislation. The department proposed amendments that would have required municipal governments to prepare balanced budgets, except where impracticable. Although the committee supports the objective of balanced budgets, it had difficulty with the wording proposed by the department, and also did not see the necessity of including a provision in the legislation that would be confusing and clearly unenforceable. Members would suggest that directions for balanced budgets could be included more appropriately in guidelines.