EAST TAMPA - The city's redevelopment officials want to buy about 30 foreclosed residential properties, do necessary repairs, then sell or rent them.

City council members last week got a briefing on the proposal from the city's economic development administrator, Mark Huey. It is similar to a plan the city unveiled in November that makes use of about $13 million of a federal stimulus grant.

The East Tampa program will use property taxes collected within the redevelopment area bordered by Hillsborough Avenue, interstates 275 and 4, and city limits.

More than 500 properties have been identified in the East Tampa redevelopment area as possible foreclosures, Huey said.

"It gives us a chance to use our property tax dollars in partnership with nonprofits ... to stabilize neighborhoods," Huey said.

The proposal will be presented to the council in May for a vote.

About $1.1 million from the East Tampa area's 2009 fiscal year budget would be allocated from an existing home repair program. That program, which helps pay for repairs and to correct city code enforcement violations, would continue to operate with money previously approved in the 2007 and 2008 budgets.

The foreclosure program also is an opportunity to match money from East Tampa's redevelopment budget with other state and federally funded housing and rehabilitation programs managed by the city, said East Tampa redevelopment manager Ed Johnson.

None of the 500-plus properties identified has been targeted for purchase, Johnson said.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.