209 Mass. 381 | Mass. | 1911
This is an appeal by the city of Boston and by the city of Cambridge from a decree
The commissioners were required by St. 1899, c. 419, §§ 1, 2, to “ in such manner as they deem just and equitable, determine and make award of the proportions in which each of the cities and towns of said district shall annually pay money into the treasury of the Commonwealth ... to provide the amount . '. . estimated ... to meet the interest and sinking fund require- • ments of the appropriations and loans authorized ” for the general metropolitan park system, (St. 1893, c. 407,) for the construction of roadways and boulevards (St. 1894, c. 288) for the Revere beach reservation (St. 1895, c. 305) and for the Nantasket beach reservation (St. 1899, c. 464, § 4) “ and the amount required to meet the expenses ... of said board of metropolitan park commissioners, and of the care, maintenance and operation . . . of the.parks, reservations, boulevards and other works acquired, cared for or controlled by said board. ...” St. 1903, c. 465, created the Charles River basin commission and charged it with the duty of constructing a dam near the mouth of the
The commissioners made five different tables of apportionment. They apportioned, first, the cost and maintenance of the metropolitan parks exclusive of the Nantasket Beach reservation and the Charles River basin, according to percentages made up of a combination of valuation and population and a partial exclusion of certain towns located upon the fringe of the district; second, the expense and maintenance of boulevards according to percentages based upon a combination of valuation and length of boulevard in the several municipalities; third, the Nantasket Beach reservation expense and maintenance upon all the cities and towns, including Cohasset, by a percentage based upon valuation; fourth, the expense of the construction of the Charles River basin (after deducting the cost of Craigie Bridge
The governing principles by which actions and reports of commissioners like these are to be treated have been elaborated several times, and it is not necessary to go over the ground again. Kingman, petitioner, 153 Mass. 566; S. C. 156 Mass. 361. Kingman, petitioner, 170 Mass. 112. Adams, petitioner, 165 Mass. 497. De las Casas, petitioner, 178 Mass. 213; S. C. 180 Mass. 471. Summarily stated, they are that the commissioners are clothed with a wide discretion as to the considerations which should guide them in making the apportionment. It is to be made in such a manner as they may deem just and equitable. Their reasonable determination and not that of the court is to prevail. It is conceivable that cases might arise
The basis of the decision of these commissioners is set out at length in their report. They have endeavored to proceed according to the principles which would govern the assessment of betterments for a public improvement upon individuals within the limitations of the constitution. They have undertaken to ascertain the extent of the special benefits which have accrued to the cities adjacent to the Charles River basin and to make apportionment of expense in proportion to this special benefit before proceeding to make the general assessment. This principle is equitable and rational, and nothing appears upon the face of the report to indicate that the commissioners have failed to accomplish in this regard what they set out to do. It has not been and could not be contended successfully that this method of dividing the expense of a public improvement among cities and towns was unconstitutional. The limits of the constitutional power of the Legislature to place such burdens upon municipalities has never been determined. It is not necessary to fix them in this opinion. If the same principles are applied to such subdivisions of government as coúld be constitutionally applied to individuals, there is no just ground for complaint. This is plainly implied by what is said in 180 Mass. at 475.
The particular ground of attack however, is that the terms of the statute do not permit the commissioners to proceed in the way in which they have proceeded, and that they have no authority to apportion the balance of the Charles River basin expenses according to any other percentage than that employed for the entire district. The language of the statute relied upon,
The city of Cambridge objects further to the confirmation of the report on the ground that the commissioners have improperly included as a part of “ the cost of the removal of the Craigie Bridge and the construction of a suitable bridge in place thereof” the expense of a temporary bridge used during the period of construction. The main principle followed by the Legislature respecting the expenses incurred as a part of this public undertaking is that so far as they relate to the accommodation of public travel between Cambridge and Boston they should be borne by these two cities. It is a part of the necessities of public travel that temporary provision for it be made during the work of construction. It is a fair implication, from the tenor of the statute, that the expense of this temporary provision should be borne in the same way as the expense for the permanent accommodation of the travelling public. Such expense bears a more intimate connection with that branch of the work required by the statute than with the general metropolitan park system. The argument drawn from the fact that special authority for the construction of the temporary bridge was incorporated in §§ 1, 8, of c. 467, St. 1898, is of slight consequence. Such authority probably would be inferred from the general scope of the work. Very many statutes where presumably temporary provision for travellers was required have made no mention of it. See for example Sts. 1900, c. 456; 1901, c. 491; 1896, c. 483; 1903, c. 441; 1903, c. 391. No error of law appears in the award of the commissioners in this regard.
Decree affirmed.
By Hammond, J.