Modify Table To Turn OFF Autoincrement ID

I've a table with an ID column, it is an auto increment id column that increases by 1.

ID
--
9724
9725

When my webhost restarts SQL, or some other random act of God, this ID jumps by 1000. Today it leapt from 9725 to 10725, which just doesn't work for me. It results in my having to upload the last known good copy of the database.

My host says they can't change the 1000 row buffer, MS apparently doesn't deem this an issue, and I'm quite frustrated. I used to be able to modify certain settings in SQL since I was using an SQL 2008 database under SQL Management Console but since my host upgraded to 2012, and I'm running XP, there is no forward compatibility and many options are no longer possible (eg. modifying a column, now it has to be done via clicking query and entering a SQL command rather than just right clicking on the column)

So long story made short... is there a way to modify my table (named "places") to turn OFF the autoincrement Id and perform a simple means to figure out the next possible value?

example:
id, place, locstion, gps, v2, v3, v4, comment
================================================
9720, Bill's House, Toronto, 43.4453, y, n, c, This was a good place to eat
9721, Dime a Dozen, Cambridge, 42.4453, n, e, d, A good place to take photos

I'd have to pull the highest value of ID (+1 to it) and then do a standard INSERT into places (id, place, location, gps, v2, v3, v4, comment) values (9722, etc...)I guess my concern is if the autoidentity is turned off, will SQL allow a new value to be entered via INSERT? I'm also using the @@identity to find the last known ID when I want to direct the user to the entry that they've just created and I don't know what that # is just yet. Would the @@identity still work?