‘Our last and best hope’: Deer Park School District asks voters for $14.5M levy to replace aging bus barn, acquire land and other projects

Deer Park School District’s bus barn wasn’t built to store any buses, let alone to maintain a fleet of three dozen.

Residents of Deer Park School District will soon vote on a $14.6 million capital levy collected over four years to improve safety, acquire land and address aging facilities in the district, including the transportation center.

If passed, the levy would cost taxpayers an estimated $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed property value, replacing the previous bond that sat at $1.03. This would translate to an increase of about $168 per year for a home valued at $400,000.

Over half of the projected $14.6 million raised from the levy would go toward the transportation center in Deer Park, next to Mix Park.

Kerri Leliefeld, the Deer Park’s transportation director, started first as a bus