The boiler still functions, said Public Works Director Carey Meyer, but it's 61 years old and hasn't had parts made for it since 1964. The whole building, which sits at the corner of Pioneer Avenue and the Sterling Highway, is a "dinosaur," he added, that has numerous problems, not the least of which is the asbestos that can be found throughout.

Asbestos removal would make up for about half of the boiler replacement cost, said Meyer, with another $20,000 going toward removal of the old boiler, which is so large and heavy it would have to be cut into pieces to get out the door.

After a lukewarm response from the council, which already appropriated $35,000 for boiler replacement in 2007, on shelling out such a large pile of cash for an old, money-losing building with an uncertain future, Meyer went back to square one.

"We're going to come up with a less expensive option more of a temporary fix. We could install a smaller boiler than the one originally planned that would allow us to go another couple of years. The other alternative is to do nothing and see if we can eke out three more years with that existing boiler," he said.

The council will get a look at the new "scaled back" alternative, estimated by Meyer to cost between $50,000 and $60,000, at its Monday meeting.

When the city first bought the aging building, it had "big plans" for it, including the possibility of turning it into a new city hall, said City Manager Walt Wrede. Today, however, it doesn't seem to have much of a future at all.

"The problem is it's really old and it doesn't meet a lot of today's building codes. As long as it's still used for school purposes those things don't have to be met, but if we changed the purpose, then we'd have to bring it up to code," said Wrede.

The operation and maintenance budget for the building is $154,000 a year and last year the city paid $63,000 for fuel alone. According to the borough assessor's office, the property and the building are worth $4,148,000 but the rent income from the building's sole paying occupant, the Kachemak Bay Campus, Kenai Peninsula College-University of Alaska, is only $54,000 a year.

"It's not a winning proposition financially and if the boiler breaks down in the middle of winter and we can't fix it, then that building suddenly becomes a demolition project," said Wrede.

The college's current lease expires in October, but the college is looking to extend it up to another three years, said Wrede.

Meanwhile, the building's other resident, the Homer Clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Kenai Peninsula, waits in limbo to see what the council will do.

"It's functional and suits our needs perfectly. It does get a little chilly in the winter, but we can't complain when the city gives us this building for free," said Clubhouse Executive Director Kelly Jackman.

Jackman added that she understands the council's hesitation to pour more money into the building and said that, if the worst-case scenario occurred and it had to be torn down, the club would continue on.

"I love this building, but I wouldn't see it as the end of the club if we had to move. There are four clubs on the Kenai Peninsula that are housed in schools," she said.

Like owning a used car on its last legs, the bright side of the situation is the miles that have been put on it already.

"The city has gotten some good use out of it. The Boys and Girls Club is a good program and the city would like to see the college grow and flourish. We've always known we were subsidizing the college by letting it be in that building for less than fair market value.

"The question is can we still afford to do that," said Wrede.

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaronselbig.@homernews.com.