It’s taken a while to make its way to Dearborn (we raised it long ago as a “copy with pride” idea) but the city will finally be offering a new pay-by-cell-phone metered parking system.

For those without cash or those not wanting to race back and forth feeding a meter, this is great news for west Dearborn patrons and business owners.

City officials will make the announcement Monday at a ribbon cutting at the Bryant Library.

“This convenient service is another example of the city’s commitment to be responsive to customers and to businesses,” the City of Dearborn says in a prepared statement.

We raised the idea of copying-with-pride back in August 2008 when downtown Petoskey, Michigan went to a paid parking system that uses your cell phone. That system allows drivers to call a phone number listed on the parking meter. They then register personal info (credit card and car’s license plate) and enter the meter’s number using the phone’s keypad.

Equipped with an electronic record of the parking fee schedules associated with that meter, computers then charge the correct amount — plus a 25-cent “convenience fee” — to the driver’s credit card.

When the driver is finally ready to leave, another call ends the billing and generates an electronic receipt that can be sent to the driver’s cell phone or to a pre-registered e-mail address.

The first lot to get the new system will be Parking Lot H, which is on West Village Drive (south of Michigan Avenue), between Mason and Monroe.

The ribbon-cutting will be attended by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., Garret Snook from Parkmobile USA, the company implementing the cell phone system and Scott Mooney from Republic Parking, the company that now manages paid parking in Dearborn.

Also on hand will be members of the Dearborn Parking Advisory Commission, the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority.