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The TTC is now completely overwhelming Toronto taxpayers and this city needs a way out, Kyle Rae believes.

“We’re no longer a city, we’re a transit authority,” said Coun. Rae, who is finishing his seventh and final year on the budget committee and is not running for re-election.

“I think the serious question that needs to be raised, and I think needs direction from the province, is whether the TTC has outgrown the city,” Rae said.

The simple answer, based on geography and ridership alone, is yes.

The riders of this city come from everywhere, from Etobicoke and Scarborough, but also from Vaughan, Mississauga and Pickering, too.

The subway is now being extended north into the 905.

A look at the city’s budget shows of the $9.2 billion to be spent this year, 16% or $1.46 billion, will go to the TTC, the biggest portion in the entire city. When you boil it down to how much of your property tax dollar goes to public transit — not including fares and other income — it’s $512 million, or 14% of the city budget, eclipsed only by Toronto Police.

And that doesn’t include the capital side, the buying of new streetcars, subway cars and buses and building the subway extension and Transit City lines. On that side, 55% of the city’s spending, or a whopping $1.33 billion, will be spent on transit in 2010.

Necessary spending, but huge dollars.

Rae said the TTC is gobbling up so much of the capital dollars, all other parts of the city are decaying while the TTC is firmly back on its feet.

“Shouldn’t our parks and libraries be in good repair, too?” he asked.

To be fair, the province has come to the table and is paying a massive portion of the transit-building bill. But it isn’t helping out with the operation of those new subway and streetcar lines.

“Everyone wants to have their name on the building, but no one wants to pay for the staff inside,” Rae said.

Coun. Gord Perks, who was tasked with examining the TTC’s books in his role on the budget committee, said everyone needs to “take a pill” on the Red Rocket.

“We deliver more transit service for less money than any other place in the world,” Perks said. “It’s like we won the gold medal and people are upset it’s not a world record, too.”

He said no matter who is in charge of the TTC, residents of Toronto will pay for it, through the fare box and beyond.

Perks said while the province lets eHealth blow up in its face, Toronto manages to make the TTC go 100 miles on 70 miles worth of gas.

Perks also knows if you take the TTC out of the mix, the city’s structural deficit almost disappears.

“The provincial Liberal government continues to defend the legacy of Mike Harris’ abandonment of public transit,” he said.

On Tuesday, it looked like hope of the province finally coming to the table was emerging.

“I think they have a real issue and the issue has to do with the operating dollars associated with the TTC,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

But by Wednesday, the premier had backed off.

“We certainly can’t meet any deadline for December of this year,” he said.

The problems are bigger than sleepy booth operators and customer service issues.

Rae said there has to be a complete overhaul in the way the TTC does business.

Right now, the commissioners just follow the chief general manager’s lead, and too few of them are doing the work necessary, he said.

Like a number of the mayoral candidates, Rae would like to see the make up of the commission changed to a mix of politicians and citizens with a wide array of backgrounds.

The TTC has expanded fantastically under a mayor who made it a priority, it’s grown ridership, routes, hours and staff. But in a city with a huge budget problem, when does someone hit the brakes? When does someone say the Transit City Bus Plan is too much? We can’t afford another $38 million a year for bus service.

Forget the argument the TTC has to run more like a business. It’s public transit. It’s not meant to make money.

It is meant to run better, despite the protestations of Gord Perks.

It shouldn’t swallow up so much of the city’s budget.

Would a change in who runs the TTC and how it runs make a difference?

It’s worth a discussion.

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