Port of Moses Lake mulls relief for tenants

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake is considering allowing tenant companies to postpone paying rent for the next three months as a way of helping some of the worst affected get through the COVID-19 crisis.

“We know these are tough times,” said Port Executive Director Don Kersey.

Kersey noted, however, that this would only be a postponement of May through July rent, and that all rent would be due by the end of December.

Tenants would also have to remain current on their utility payments and the leasehold excise taxes — a 12.84 percent tax paid to the state by private companies that lease public land — to postpone their rents.

Kersey said all port tenants will be eligible, but he does not expect all of them to take such an offer.

According to Carol Crapson, the port’s real estate director, the Port of Moses Lake has 93 lease agreements. However, many port tenants, such as Boeing, have signed more than one lease agreement with the port.

Manufacturers like Boeing and lift-maker Genie were facing difficulties even before the COVID-19 outbreak forced the idling of their production lines.

Genie’s parent company, Terex, said it plans to restart production at Genie in Moses Lake on May 4.

On Friday, Boeing said it would resume limited operations centered on production of the P-8 patrol craft, the KC-46 tanker for the Department of Defense and 737 Max maintenance in both the Puget Sound region and Moses Lake, involving roughly 2,500 employees.

“Boeing’s work supporting the Department of Defense as a part of the defense industrial base is a matter of national security and has been deemed critical,” said Boeing spokesperson Peter Pedroza in a press release. “The work we do directly supports the servicemen and women protecting the nation around the clock — and they are counting on us to get it done. Additionally, our commercial work supports critical global transportation.”