Vicksburg’s City Hall Annex on Walnut Street has a major problem with its roof, and the potential cost of replacing it is forcing the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to consider razing the building.

The city bought the annex in 1995. It houses eight city departments, the city board room and a training room.

Mayor Paul Winfield said preliminary estimates put the cost of replacing the roof at $500,000.

The problem, he said, is the roof uses three different roof styles — pitched, slope and flat — and is in extremely poor condition. Winfield discussed the roof problem at a budget meeting Thursday. He said after the meeting the board may have to include the cost of resolving the problem in the 2013 budget.

“That roof has been patched and patched and patched, and can’t be patched any more,” said interim public works director Garnet Van Norman. “We’ve been patching that roof ever since we bought the building. It leaks all over. The framing is bad, some of the rafters need replacing and some of the wood is rotted. It needs to be replaced.”

“It’s a question of what would be more feasible, to pay for a repair that may cost more than the building is worth, or raze it,” Winfield said. “It’s a matter we’re going to have to resolve. We have to address it soon, because it’s become a safety hazard.”

Either decision, he said, means temporarily or permanently relocating the offices from the annex to other sites. Razing the building means finding permanent locations for the city offices, either in existing city buildings or leasing space in private buildings.

Another solution, Winfield said, is acquiring the 70,000 square-foot old Post Office at 820 Crawford St., which is east of City Hall and occupies the rest of the block from Walnut Street east to Cherry Street.

The city had an opportunity to get the 67-year-old building free from the federal government in 2001, but turned the deal down in 2003 in a dispute over an agreement to lease office space back to the feds.

The building was bought in 2006 by Delta Court LLC. Local Realtor Shirley Waring is the principal owner.

She said the company has something else in mind.

“The highest and best use for this property is private development which benefits and builds our city’s economy,” she said. “We are working to help attract significant tourism dollars and create new jobs. Our plans are well under way, and we invite the city to be a part of our effort.”

The city acquired the annex, then called the Neill Building, in May 1995 for $250,000.

“The building was actually three different buildings,” Van Norman said. “They just added walls between them to make it one building.”

The city’s human resources, public works and engineering, mapping, purchasing, TV 23, police internal affairs, some of the planning department offices and the Vicksburg Senior Center are all housed in the building.