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KELLY VIRELLAThe program is designed to improve retention rates and keep officers living in city neighborhoods.
ST. PETERSBURG - Joe Bross, a newlywed but a long-time Police Department veteran, was in the midst of buying a home with his wife when he got some great news.
If he purchased a home within the city limits and stayed on the force at least seven years, he learned that the city would give him up to $14,000 toward his house, part of an incentive to keep officers.
He asked Chief Chuck Harmon about the offer. It's true, the chief said. It's a deal, Joe and Debbie Bross said. And so last week, the detective became the first to take advantage of the new city offer.
Although it is a loan, it will not have to be repaid if an officer stays with the St. Petersburg police for seven more years.
Bross has worked for the Police Department for 16 years and definitely plans to stay. Their new house, in the Riviera Bay subdivision off 83rd Avenue N, cost $305,000 and will also need $50,000 to $60,000 worth of repairs. They applied for the loan in July.
"It wasn't the reason we were able to get the home, but it's $14,000," Bross said. "That made it $14,000 easier."
"That money really helps a lot," Ms. Bross said. "For a young officer that's just starting out, that's 10 percent down on a $140,000 home."
The Police in Neighborhoods program is good for everyone, said assistant chief of patrol David DeKay, who estimates that more police officers live outside St. Petersburg than in it.
"Residents feel safe knowing that police are in their neighborhoods," he said. "And our response time is quicker because they're closer to work."
The median price of a home in St. Petersburg is $81,000. But home prices in many neighborhoods go far higher than that, said Thomas deYampart, manager of St. Petersburg's housing and community development. For a St. Petersburg Police officer, the cost can be steep, said Bill Laubach, executive director of the union that represents St. Petersburg Police. The starting salary for a St. Petersburg police officer is about $34,000. The cap is about $52,000.
"We do not feel that the police officers are paid enough to live in certain parts of St. Petersburg," he said. "Nowhere near Coffee Pot Boulevard or Snell Isle."
About two years ago, Harmon became concerned that housing prices in St. Petersburg might be one of the things forcing officers to look for jobs in other cities, Assistant Chief DeKay said. In 2001, the number of officers who left the department to work for other law enforcement agencies jumped to 21 from seven in 2000.
The city already had a home-buying program for police that was also called PIN. But in five years only nine or 10 officers used it, said deYampart. It did not allow officers to buy a home if they already owned one in the city or help them pay for remodeling, deYampart said.
The city updated the PIN program in July. Now officers can borrow up to $14,000 to buy a new home in St. Petersburg or to remodel an existing home in St. Petersburg, regardless of their incomes. DeYampart said he is processing about 20 applications from officers. So far, six officers have left the department this year.
"This is one of the best housing incentive program in the country in terms of the amount of money offered," he said. "From a dollar point of view, it's one of the most attractive."
The Brosses married last March and live in a three-bedroom, two-bath home in north St. Petersburg. They want a new house because their current one is too small to accommodate their four children and his mother, who visits often, they said. They'll be glad when the new house is finished and their family can start their new lives together, they said.
"We plan on living there for a very long, long time," Joe Bross said.