Published on Friday, November 06, 2009
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
Riverside County's latest attempt to get a federal customs agent to serve the region's foreign trade zone at the former March Air Force Base, making way for an expansion of the tariff-free zone, has been derailed.
Riverside County, as well as the staff of the March Joint Powers Authority which oversees redevelopment at the former base, had sought federal approval to expand the area's foreign trade zone to include several businesses not inside the current zone. Local leaders have said the zone expansion would save businesses from paying costly fees to import or export goods.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, though, has said it needs $150,000, an office space and funds to cover an agent's transportation costs -- all part of a user-fee agreement the agency requires when a foreign trade zone is 60 miles outside a port of entry boundary.
