Port of Moses Lake issues bonds to buy property

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake will issue about $19 million in bonds to buy land adjoining existing port property.  

Port commissioners approved the bond issue at the regular meeting Monday. Kim Detrolio, the port’s director of finance and administration, said the port will be buying about 13 parcels, some at the east edge of port property, some at the west edge.  

The bonds have a 10-year payback provision. The port will pay 5% interest on the bonds for the first five years and 5.25% for the remaining term.  

The port leases rather than sells its property to tenants, and Detrolio said the lease payments are projected to be enough to pay for the bonds. Because the port will be paying off the bonds with revenue from the leased property, it won’t affect its bonding capacity, she said.  

Richard Hanover, the port’s director of business development, said the port has potential tenants for most of the property. 

“Some of these have been in the works for quite some time,” Detrolio said. “We just needed to come up with the money to pay for it.” 

Detrolio said port officials have been working on the property acquisitions, and with potential tenants. 

“These are not speculative purchases,” said Commissioner Kent Jones.  

Commissioners also are working on projects to increase the amount of water available to the port and ultimately find ways to use less water from the City of Moses Lake. Commissioner Darrin Jackson said land and water conversations have been going on for decades; he first heard about them at 13 years of age while working as a legislative page.  

“Water and property – God doesn’t make any more of it,” Jackson said. “So, any time we can get it (and) retain it, we have the obligation to do so.”  

Port officials are working on a number of different water projects, all of them in the planning stages, some further along than others. Kevin Richards of Western Pacific Engineering, who’s working on the project, said port officials are working to meet a September deadline to take advantage of a water right they’ve been granted. 

Port officials applied for the water right about a decade ago and were informed in 2025 that it had been granted. But port officials must submit a plan for its use to the Washington Department of Ecology, and that plan is due next month. 

Richards said that once the plan is submitted, part of the procedure for claiming that water right is demonstrating that the water is being put to a beneficial use. He estimated that would take about six months. 

Port officials also are exploring cooperative efforts with the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District to use water from Moses Lake. The water would be pumped to port property. 

A third – and longer-term – option would use water from a nearby irrigation canal. Richards said the cost of each option is still being determined. 

Jones said that while the port is looking at different possibilities, they’re still just possibilities.  

“These are called options,” Jones said.