If Curry County isn’t broke today, it soon will be, and that gives the county’s residents a choice. They can approve a property tax increase come November, or they can let the state step in. Either way, they’re almost certain to pay more money to keep the county afloat.

Getting that money is critical. With only four deputies to cover nearly 2,000 square miles, the county sheriff is hard pressed to assure anyone outside city limits that he can respond to a call for help. That is unacceptable.

No one wants to see taxes go up, but in Curry County the question isn’t if will they, but who will decide they will.

State intervention would mean an increase in income taxes and, perhaps, a new tax on telephones, both landline and cellular, whether residents like it or not. The property tax increase, meanwhile, allows residents to continue to control their destiny, and that is worth preserving.