The local board may recover, by a civil action, the expenses incurred in such removal and abatement from any person who shall have caused or allowed such nuisance, source of foulness, water in which mosquito larvae breed, or cause of sickness, hazardous to the public health to exist, or from any owner, tenant, or occupant of premises who, after notice as herein provided, shall fail to remove and abate the same within the time specified in the notice.
N.J.S. § 26:3-54