MONROE — Parking here can be refreshing.

Maybe not for the locals, who daily plug the more-than-60-year-old meters with their loose change, but most certainly for the out-of-town visitors who shop the square for dresses at “das Baumhaus” or JoAnne’s, buy a cigar at Ruf’s or a cheese sandwich at Baumgartner’s.

But the nostalgia and, for some, hassle of parking for just a nickel an hour near the historic 1891 Green County Courthouse is about to come to an end.

Work will begin in the next few months on a $3 million project that will give the square a new look and, in the process, remove the aging parking meters.

“It’s old fashioned. It’s a unique thing to have,” said Helen Schneeberger, 71, of Davis, Ill., whose travel and shopping partner, Nancy Lund, 69, paid five cents to park her minivan. “We enjoy shopping here, so why not pay a little to park?”

It’s unclear how many communities in Wisconsin still use parking meters, but Monroe’s may be the cheapest in the state.

In Wisconsin Dells, a nickel provides 30 minutes of parking and a dime lasts an hour. In Appleton, it‘s 60 cents an hour. The Madison City Council voted last week to raise the rates a quarter on some meters, to $1.50 an hour.

In the North Woods tourist haunt of Eagle River, meters have only been used between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but the City Council recently voted to go without meters this summer in an effort to improve the downtown’s image.

In many communities, meters have been gone for years, replaced with maximum time limits and chalk marks on tires.

Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said he is looking at an electronic system to identify those who overstay their time but believes the meters will be missed by the tourists and in the city coffers, where parking in 2008 generated more than $40,000 after expenses.

“We’ve had people from Chicago ask if they can keep the ticket,” Kelley said. “If you talked to the traveler, none of them have ever said it was unreasonable to pay for parking. But the locals come to the downtown, too.”

In the mid-1990s, fines for expired meters doubled to $1. Fines went to $2 in 2000 before jumping to $5 in 2007, Kelley said.

Rod Golackson, who for the past five years has owned the 107-year-old Ruf’s Confectionery on the square, said he’s OK with the meters disappearing as long as those who work on the square and live in apartments above the businesses don’t monopolize the prime parking spots.

Ken Leuenberger, who has owned Garden Gate Coins & Antiques since 1986, said he looks forward to the reconstruction of the square and won’t miss the parking meters.

“It’s going to be beautiful,” Leuenberger said of the reconstruction project. “It can’t do anything but help the downtown.”

The reconstruction, scheduled to last through the fall, will include new pavement, sidewalks, lighting, trees and a water main.

The project also will fill about 20 to 25 antiquated and now unused coal bins beneath the sidewalks next to some of the businesses. Work will be done in stages, which will maintain traffic flow around the square at all times.

“Only one of the two driving lanes will be closed” at any one time, said Ryan Wilson of Fehr-Graham & Associates, an engineering firm working on the project. “One of the big concerns, certainly, has been the disruption of business, and legitimately so.”

It’s unclear when the last meter will be removed on the square but meters on the side streets may stay through the end of the year. City officials are also talking about selling the meters, possibly as a fundraiser.

For Lois Gordon, who has been plugging the meters outside JoAnne’s Dress Shop where she has worked for 25 years, the loss of the meters will be a gain for the downtown.

“I don’t think it really pays,” Gordon said. “I won’t miss them.”