As the Bloomberg administration gets set to issue bonds to refinance the city’s leftover debt from the 1970s, New Yorkers might find it enlightening to cast their peepers over some of the documentation. In a “Preliminary Official Statement” dated September 22 for the bond offering, revenue esti mates — what the city expects to collect in taxes in the next few years — are included that do not account for any rollback of the property tax. New Yorkers might remember that Mayor Bloomberg started hinting over the summer that he is interested in rolling back his 18.5% property tax increase, an increase that has sparked something of a tax revolt in the boroughs.

Asked if the data contained in the filing signaled that Mr. Bloomberg had weakened his commitment to lowering the tax, the mayor’s spokesman, Jordan Barowitz, told the Sun, “No, it doesn’t.” But it would be easy to misread the passage in the preliminary official statement that reads: “The increase in average tax rate…is projected to remain in effect for the forecast period 2005 through 2007.” Granted, the projections are accompanied by a disclaimer stating that,”The projections and assumptions contained in the Financial Plan are subject to revision which may involve substantial change.” But if the mayor really has plans to cut this tax — which the report says accounts for 43.6% of the city’s tax revenue — it ought to be disclosed fully to bond buyers. And if he doesn’t plan any such reduction, that should be disclosed fully to taxpayers.