By Mike Trask

Tue, May 27, 2008 (2 a.m.)

There have been concerns about several Henderson developments struggling during the housing slump.

For the moment it doesn’t appear M Resort at St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard South will be included in that discussion.

Last week, developer Anthony Marnell III announced that a 1-million-square-foot shopping mall — roughly twice the size of the new Shoppes at Palazzo — will be added to the $2 billion M Resort.

The mall, to be built by Taubman Centers, which has built malls in California, Colorado and New Jersey, is scheduled to open in 2011 or 2012. The casino is scheduled to open about a year earlier.

The shopping center will be part of huge plans for the intersection, where Gary Goett wants to build the $2 billion Southern Highlands Resort. Nearby, he has developed Southern Highlands, a

7,000-home master-planned community near St. Rose and Interstate 15.

Less than two miles away, the 2,000-acre Inspirada is slowly developing. Station Casinos plans to build in the community, near the Henderson Executive Airport.

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The Henderson City Council last week approved a $617.1 million budget for

2008-09, a 7 percent increase over the current $573.2 million budget.

The second-largest city in the state is increasing its budget in times of economic hardship for many area municipalities. It will add 45 full-time jobs in the coming year and will begin the construction of Heritage Park at Racetrack Road and Burkholder Boulevard and a police substation on Sunset Road.

Henderson’s general fund, which includes staff salaries, will be $237.9 million in fiscal 2009, up 6 percent from fiscal 2008’s $224.4 million. Public safety, including the police and fire departments, receives half of that funding.

Those departments drew criticism last year after a Sun investigation showed millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on costly overtime payments to offset what officials said were understaffed departments.

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The Boulder City Council also has approved its 2008-09 budget and North Las Vegas is getting ready to do the same.

Boulder City’s budget will be $57.2 million, a 9 percent increase. The city is struggling to deal with several expensive projects, including paying about $25 million for its share of a third water intake into Lake Mead.

The town’s taxpayers will see a property tax rate increase of 1.5 cents per $100 valuation. Next year’s tax rate will be 21.88 cents per $100 of assessed valuation — still below the rates in Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

The North Las Vegas City Council will meet today to discuss and possibly approve its 2008-09 budget.

The proposed operating budget of about $480 million would be a 5 percent increase over the current fiscal year’s $456.5 million budget. The fastest-growing city in the country also will increase its capital improvement budget from about $250 million to $361 million.

The increase stems from the need for more streets, parks and other infrastructure that come with the city’s continued growth, officials said.

They also stress that the budget increase will not require a tax increase.