LOCAL ELECTIONS : New Problems on the Horizon for Orange County’s Cities-in-Waiting : Laguna Hills and El Toro must confront the sticky situation of setting up their new governments without the legal authority that comes in December.

With voter approval in hand, leaders of the two future south Orange County cities of Laguna Hills and El Toro on Wednesday found a new problem.

How do you set up your new governments and hire key city staffers without the legal authority to do so until Dec. 20, when incorporation becomes official?

“As a City Council, we have no money and no authority to do anything, and yet we have to go out and set this up,” Laguna Hills Councilman-elect Joel Lautenschleger said.

Added El Toro Councilwoman-elect Marcia Rudolph: “We write checks without writing checks.”

Nevertheless, for those who have struggled for almost four years for municipal self-rule, it was a nice problem to have.

It was not until just before midnight Tuesday that incorporation leaders learned voters had approved the cityhood referendums, Measure E in El Toro and Measure H in Laguna Hills.

Measure E won 68.1% to 31.9%, while Measure H won 86.1% to 13.9%, according to final unofficial results.

The champagne flowed at celebrations in each community as cityhood proponents projected bright futures for their new municipalities.

“This city is going to be a force to be reckoned with,” El Toro cityhood leader John Davis said.

In a separate ballot measure, El Toro voters chose to call their city-to-be Lake Forest.

In the Laguna Hills home of cityhood leader Ellen Martin, comparisons were made between Tuesday’s victorious night and the gloomy election night in 1989, when the cityhood referendum was soundly rejected.

“The night of that defeat, we were depressed,” said Melody Carruth, the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s Laguna Hills City Council race. “But we sat down, right in this room, and got out maps and redefined our boundaries. We wasted no time.”

Carruth said Laguna Hills’ new council will begin immediately to negotiate with the county for the annexation of a northern area of unincorporated Laguna Hills. Although that area is considered the original Laguna Hills, its 4,000 residents were taken out of the incorporation plan in a compromise agreement with county officials, who were against incorporation because of a loss in tax revenues.

Carruth said state legislation to protect the future city’s claim to that area has already been drafted.

Laguna Hills and El Toro leaders also will begin working in an advisory capacity to draw up legal documents allowing them to collect sales and property tax revenue beginning Dec. 20.

Leaders are also considering hiring consultants to help them come up with a short list of candidates for the posts of city manager and city attorney. Because the communities will not have immediate revenues, new employees would probably be asked to work with the understanding that they would be paid as soon as the money becomes available at the end of the year.

El Toro’s top vote-getter in the City Council race, Helen Wilson, said she hoped that an interim city manager could be hired by June 1.

“Sometimes we can take an advance against property tax revenues, or go to a bank and ask for a line of credit,” she said.

Although the mayors will not be selected by the city councils until members are officially seated, some members pointed to the practice in other cities of choosing the top vote-getters as mayors.

According to final unofficial results released by the registrar of voters office Wednesday, here are the top five vote-getters in each community and the percentage of votes they received.

* Laguna Hills: Melody Carruth (16.4%); Joel Lautenschleger (15.3%); Craig Scott (14.0%); L. Allan Songstad Jr. (13.5%); and Randal J. Bressette (9.7%).

* El Toro: Helen Wilson (12.3%); Ann Van Haun (11.4%); Richard Thomas Dixon (11.1%); Marcia Rudolph (10.6%); and Tim Link (10.2%).

The top two vote-getters in each of the elections will serve four-year terms. The remaining three members will serve two-year terms.

Irvine Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan praised the vote to incorporate the communities, saying they would increase the clout of municipal governments as they battle the county on regional issues, such as proposed increases in jail booking fees and higher rates for fire and paramedic services.

“This gives us now 31 cities,” Sheridan said, “and when you have a wonderful network working together, you’re going to see some issues surface that are extremely close to the cities’ hearts.”

Times correspondents Len Hall and Terry Spencer and staff writer Eric Lichtblau contributed to this report.

ELECTION RETURNS: FINAL

Anaheim

A--Mobile Home Rent Control

100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 5,759 41.4 No 8,153 58.6

B--Direct Election of Mayor

Votes % Yes 9,882 71.9 No 3,868 28.1

C--City Council Salary Limit

Votes % Yes 8,306 59.7 No 5,606 40.3

D--Financing of New Police and Paramedic Services (advisory vote only)

Votes % Yes 4,917 35.8 No 8,826 64.2

El Toro

E--Cityhood

100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 5,785 68.3 No 2,682 31.7

F--Future Council Elections:

By District or at Large

Votes % District 3,696 47.0 At Large 4,167 53.0

G--Naming of City

Votes % Lake Forest 4,090 49.1 El Toro 3,920 47.0 Rancho Canada 327 3.9

City Council

5 Elected (If cityhood approved)

Votes % Helen Wilson 3,987 12.3 Ann Van Haun 3,690 11.4 Richard Thomas Dixon 3,580 11.1 Marcia Rudolph 3,437 10.6 Tim Link 3,288 10.2 Bob Forsberg 3,025 9.4 Dana L. Desrosiers 2,781 8.6 Jon Smith 2,649 8.2 Philip Dean 2,285 7.1 Ray Wallenthin 2,252 7.0 Jim Berkey 1,345 4.2

Laguna Hills

H--Cityhood

100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 3,786 86.3 No 600 13.7

I--Future Council Elections: By District or at Large

Votes % District 1,415 34.2 At Large 2,728 65.8

City Council

5 Elected (If cityhood approved)

Votes % Melody Carruth 3,006 16.4 Joel Lautenschleger 2,789 15.3 Craig Scott 2,553 14.0 L. Allan Songstad Jr. 2,471 13.5 Randal J. Bressette 1,778 9.7 David T. Leland 1,413 7.7 David R. Stabbe 1,227 6.7 Gregory N. Weiler 1,213 6.6 William Simmons 1,002 5.5 Paul J. Mayjack 823 4.5

Orange

Cumberland Road Annexation

100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Yes 56 56.6 No 43 43.4

* Elected candidates and winning side of measures are in bold type.