46 



FIRST COUNTY PARE SYSTEM 



places difficult, and not infrequently impossible, to 

 collect. This was due to the fact that every pub- 

 lic park, as to location, size, property environment, 

 and other conditions determining assessable benefits on ad- 

 jacent property, is a law unto itself. No two, in these re- 

 spects, are alike; hence no uniform system of awarding 

 damages and assessing benefits as obtains, for instance, in 

 the case of municipal street openings, is possible. 



This, of necessit}^, makes confusion and uncertainty in 

 the legal proceedings, and gives an almost unlimited oppor- 

 tunity and exceedingly broad field for never-ending litiga- 

 tion to "those who won't pay." Then, too, as every park 

 is different in size, topography, and the other conditions 

 noted, the task of fixing with comparative exactness and 

 equity the district lines within which an assessment for 

 park benefits should be levied, becomes the more difficult 

 the more study is given to the solution of the problem. 

 Shall the park belt benefits extend 100 feet, 1,000 feet; or 

 over the whole municipality or county wherein the park or 

 parks are located ? This becomes the troublesome question. 



AGAINST DIRECT ASSESSMENT. 



An attempted partial direct assessment for park lands on 

 the lines as above indicated, tends to make confusion worse 

 confounded. If the plan involves providing a portion of the 

 cost by tax on the available ratables, on the principle that 

 in a large park or system of parks the benefits inure to the 

 whole community, why should not all the cost be thus pro- 

 vided? That is the almost invariable contention of objec- 

 tors to a direct tax for special benefits. 



As a matter of fact, these phases of objection to any plan 

 of assessing benefits for the Essex County parks became so 

 serious to the first commission that the conclusion was 

 finally and reluctantly reached that the expense of acquir- 

 ing, developing, and maintaining the parks of the system 

 should be borne by the whole county by issuing county 

 bonds, and through the tax levy. It was also decided that 

 it was injudicious to attempt to provide any of the requisite 



