Nagel and Brothers are close to retaining seats on Fountain Valley City Council

Incumbents Steve Nagel and Cheryl Brothers are holding commanding leads in their reelection bids to the Fountain Valley City Council, according to unofficial county registrar results Wednesday morning.

With 8,759 and 7,224 votes, respectively, the pair was positioned to defeat challengers Kim Constantine and Patrick Tucker for the two open seats in a race marked by debate on new high-density housing, office towers and a sales tax increase.

Friends, relatives and other supporters congregated at Nagel’s home Tuesday night, but Brothers said she wasn’t celebrating until all the precincts were counted.

“I’m optimistic and the early returns don’t mean a lot,” Brothers said Tuesday evening. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Nagel said he hadn’t had time to celebrate yet because he’s on jury duty, but added that he’s eager to continue serving on the council.

“Our city is facing a financial issue and we must be more efficient so people can continue to enjoy where they live,” Nagel said. “I’m going to make sure we spend our money more wisely and help create economic development.”

Constantine and Tucker campaigned for more city cutbacks and conservative spending and strongly opposed the Measure HH sales tax proposal.

*Measure HH sales tax increase finds favor among voters

More than half of Fountain Valley voters voted in favor of Measure HH, which calls for increasing the sales tax in the city to 9% from 8% for 20 years in an effort to aid the city’s finances, according to county registrar data Wednesday morning.

Tuesday’s vote followed months of heated debate among city authorities and residents. Nearly 60% of voters favored the measure, while 40% were opposed.

City Council members Cheryl Brothers and Steve Nagel, who had strong leads in Wednesday’s registrar results, supported Measure HH, seeing it as the best way to create more revenue for the city. Finance Director David Cain said earlier this year that the city needed about $1.7 million from its reserve fund to help balance next year’s budget.

“We need to keep our services at a high level and continue to provide essential city services,” Nagel said.

Backers say money raised by the measure will help keep emergency response times low, maintain police cadet recruiting programs, keep school crossing guards and enable technology updates for emergency radios and other equipment.

Had Measure HH failed, city officials said, the city would have had to cut more public services, close its fire station on Newhope Street and eliminate some community services for senior citizens.

The city already has already reduced the amount of staff positions, delayed repairs for roads and public buildings, and contracted out some services, officials said.