Butler city officials are doing the right thing by acting quickly to have all parking meters in the city calibrated. Commuters and shoppers coming to Butler should likewise do the right thing by putting money into the parking meters.

Motorists should expect that when they put a quarter in meter for one hour of parking that they actually get one hour of parking. More than a few drivers who have been ticketed in the past have been convinced they had time left when they arrived to find a parking ticket tucked under their windshield wiper.

The coming calibration of all the meters for accuracy should help to ease those suspicions.

Since early this month, it has been widely known that parking tickets for expired meters in Butler are not being written because a Leechburg lawyer successfully challenged a parking ticket by pointing out that city officials have not complied with a state law passed in 1996 that requires meters be calibrated for accuracy every three years.

City officials have said that until the meters are certified by the state's Bureau of Weights and Measures, which is expected to begin happening next week, parking tickets will not be written for expired meters.

That was probably the right response, but the reaction by some people who regularly park in Butler to treat this time as a parking holiday is wrong.

A walk through several city parking lots last week revealed that a noticeable percentage of cars were parked in metered spaces without coins have been deposited. While a majority of the motorists parking in the city are still putting coins in meters, the attitude far from universal.

Nothing has changed to warrant denying the city or the parking authority money for parking in metered spaces. Parking at the meters close to the business district still provides a convenience that should be paid for regardless of whether or not meter monitors are writing tickets. And the hundreds of people who pay for monthly permits have prepaid for their parking privileges and cannot withhold their money.

The current honor system for parking meters should be followed not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because the financially strapped city needs every dollar it can get.

The city should ensure that meters provide a full hour of parking for an hour's worth of change. But motorists should not be taking advantage of this situation just because meter monitors are not ticketing.