Section 1501. Municipal mosquito control; costs to owner and municipality  


Latest version.
  • 1. Whenever the board of health of a municipality shall  determine  that
      any  accumulation  of water wherein mosquito larvae breed, constitutes a
      nuisance or a danger or injury to life or health, the owner or owners of
      the premises on which the breeding  place  is  located  shall  bear  the
      expense  of  its suppression or removal, or so much thereof as the local
      board of health shall determine to be equitable as hereinafter provided.
        2. If the local board of health  of  a  municipality  shall  determine
      that,  owing  to  the  natural  conditions  which  are  favorable to the
      breeding of mosquitoes and owing to the benefit to  be  secured  to  the
      public  by  the suppression of such conditions, a part of the expense of
      such suppression or removal shall be borne by the owner of such premises
      and a  part  thereof  by  the  municipality  wherein  the  premises  are
      situated,  such owner or occupant may proceed to suppress or remove such
      breeding place and shall be reimbursed  by  the  municipality  for  such
      proportion  of  the reasonable expense of such suppression or removal as
      the board of health  shall  have  determined  should  be  borne  by  the
      municipality.
        3. For the purpose of ascertaining the actual cost of such suppression
      or  removal,  the  board  of  health  of  the  municipality  or its duly
      authorized agents may at all times have access to the  premises  whereon
      the  work  is  being  carried  on;  and  the owner of the premises shall
      furnish to such board of health such information as the board of  health
      may  deem  necessary  or  desirable for the purpose of ascertaining such
      actual cost.
        4. If in any such case the owner of the premises  shall  not  proceed,
      within a reasonable time, to suppress or remove such breeding place, the
      board  of  health of the municipality may proceed to suppress and remove
      the same, and for such proportion of the expense of such suppression and
      removal as the board of health shall have determined to be equitable, an
      action may be maintained against such owner, and the same shall become a
      first lien upon the premises.