If not now, then when?

If you really want to get discouraged about the prospects for property tax relief, consider the numbers as the state closes the books on what is turning out to be a banner year for taxes, if not taxpayers.

Deval Patrick was elected governor on a promise of doing something about property taxes, and he couldn't be getting better news on the revenue front. While the final numbers won't be released for a week, several Patrick officials told me the state will report about $19.7 billion in tax revenue for the year -- $1.2 billion, or 7 percent, more than a year ago. Looked at another way, that is $425 million to $450 million above the $19.3 billion the state projected in January.

You would think with a new governor dedicated to property tax relief and state revenue surging, now would be the moment to give the struggling homeowner some help. You would be wrong.

That $425 million-plus windfall, the Patrick administration says, is already mostly spent. About $100 million is scheduled for the rainy day fund. Another $80 million will pay to restore the cuts Mitt Romney made as he left office. Much of the rest will go to the state's supplemental budget. Says Barbara Anderson, leader of the fraud, waste, and abuse watchdogs: "If you have a surplus and spend it, it is no longer a surplus."

She has a point. If Patrick and the Legislature were serious about doing something about property taxes, rather than leaving cities and towns between a rock and a hard place, they could.

Here is one way to think about the state's $425 million good-news surprise. There are 1.9 million Massachusetts homeowners. If the state simply sent them a check, that would amount to more than $200 for every homeowner, equivalent to a 5.5 percent cut in the average property tax bill of $3,600 for a single-family home. Nothing says relief quite like a check.

The big bulge in state taxes says less about the strength of the economy -- which is doing OK but not great -- and more about the strong stock market. The tax spike is coming mainly from capital gains and bonuses, and also from some big tax cases settled recently by the state's Department of Revenue. In short, the $425 million windfall needs to be looked at as a one-time gain, not the kind of revenue to be counted on going forward. The state is playing a dangerous game using that money to fund operating budgets.

This governor's proposal to allow more communities to join the state health insurance system is unlikely to curb municipal healthcare costs much because it gives the unions too much power to block the changes. His proposal to force underperforming local pension systems into the state pension fund will help, but doesn't go far enough. Patrick's reasonable attempt to allow cities and towns to impose a modest meals tax and close a loophole that benefits telecommunications companies is being blocked by House Speaker Sal DiMasi.

"One of our top priorities is sustainable, long-term property tax relief," says Leslie Kirwan, Patrick's secretary of administration and finance. Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, is less optimistic: "Nothing that he has proposed will address the increase in property taxes in any meaningful way."

Massachusetts has many needs, and slowing the growth in property taxes is high among them. In a few short months, Patrick has rolled out a lot of billion-dollar plans, and it is only July. There's one to improve education and make community colleges free. There's one for commuter rail service to Southeastern Massachusetts. There's another for the biotech industry.

When do we get at least a down payment on his signature campaign promise -- doing something about property taxes?

Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902.