RALEIGH - Armed with the political capital he gained in last month's election, Mayor Charles Meeker said Thursday that it's time developers paid more to offset the costs of Raleigh's growth.

Meeker said he will ask the new City Council to more than double the impact fees Raleigh imposes on new housing and uses to pay for roads and parks. Under the mayor's proposal, the impact fees leveled on a house of 2,500 to 2,700 square feet would increase from $1,200 to $2,500.

"Our fees have been very low," said Meeker, who wants the new fee structure to be included in the city's 2008-09 budget. "This is not a huge change, but it's something that we need to do."

Opponents of Meeker's proposal said it would translate to higher home prices and could make a bad housing market worse.

"People in City Hall need to be careful because the housing market is softening in the Triangle and if they do absolutely nothing growth is going to slow," said Tom Anhut, Raleigh division president for Toll Brothers, which has developed the residential component of Brier Creek. "If they aren't careful they may take actions that result in exacerbating what is not a good market."

Meeker insisted his proposal is meant to lessen the burden on existing homeowners, not slow the city's growth.

"Some communities are talking about slowing growth," he said. "Raleigh is not."

The mayor and his allies made increasing impact fees a key campaign issue in the city election. Two incumbents were tossed out of office and replaced by Rodger Koopman and Nancy McFarlane, who both promised to raise impact fees. The third new member of the council, Mary-Ann Baldwin, stood next to Meeker at his news conference Thursday and expressed support for his proposal.

Under the mayor's proposal the fees would be tied to the size of a house, with larger fees for larger homes. Meeker said the increase would raise an additional $8 million to $10 million a year.

The City Council increased impact fees 72 percent in 2006, but Meeker and re-elected Councilmen Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder wanted a much larger increase.

When the new council is sworn in Tuesday, James West and Philip Isley will be the only two councilmen remaining from the five-vote majority that prevented the mayor from raising impact fees more than 72 percent.

Isley said Thursday that he opposes the proposed increase, but acknowledged that he won't have the votes to stop it.

"This is a given," Isley said.

The mayor, who is about to start his fourth two-year term, said Thursday that he will also push for tougher water conservation measures and better bus service.

Once the drought has eased, the mayor wants the city to pass more aggressive year-round, mandatory conservation measures.

The City Council adopted new year-round restrictions in May, but they are not conservation measures. They are designed to reduce peak demand and keep the system from exceeding its capacity on hot days.

The mayor also called for the city to replace its flat rate for water with a variable rate structure. Customers would be charged more for using more water.

"This will put the economic incentive where it ought to be," the mayor said.

Meeker said he will consider raising property taxes by a half-cent to pay for improvements to the city's bus system. Bus service in Raleigh became an issue this summer after it was reported that many stops lacked shelters and benches and that some shopping centers in the city had stopped allowing buses on their property.

Meeker said he wants buses running more often, as well as more options for people commuting from Raleigh to Durham, Chapel Hill or other surrounding areas.

Raleigh spends about $7 million annually to support its bus system.