STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The typical Staten Island driver will pay $12 for the privilege of using the Goethals and Bayonne bridges and the Outerbridge Crossing as soon as next month, if the Port Authority has its way.

The whopping hike is part of a menu of breathtaking increases the cash-strapped bi-state agency announced yesterday for the three crossings. Tolls also would spike on the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and on the George Washington Bridge.

Motorists with E-ZPass who cross onto the Island during peak hours -- constituting the majority -- would see the toll rise from $8 to $12. The tariff at other times would be $10, but the daily off-peak windows would narrow.

Participants in the Staten Island bridges plan who make the requisite 20 monthly crossings using E-ZPass would pay $6, up from $4.

But it's those unfortunates who fork over cash who would absorb the biggest pasting, with an 87.5 percent hike, to $15. That toll would be one of the highest anywhere in the country.

The proposed increases are significantly greater than those that sources had floated in June, when New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie disavowed any knowledge of a hike, and puts the Port Authority tariff in line with the $13 Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll (that span is run by MTA Bridges and Tunnels).

In fact, the rise means that a driver making a round trip between Brooklyn and, say, Jersey City would pay an eye-popping $28 cash. And that cost would rise to $30 in 2014, when the Port Authority plans to institute further hikes.

The Port Authority will solicit the public's input at meetings -- the Island's is scheduled for Aug. 16, 8 a.m., at Port Ivory/Howland Hook, 40 Western Ave. -- ahead of the Board of Commissioners' vote on Aug. 19.

City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) was peeved about the site. "They usually have them at night and at a central location," he said. "Having it at Howland Hook, they could have them in Weehawken, for all Staten Islanders are concerned.

"We know it's a dog-and-pony show, for the most part, and now they're not even giving us the dog-and-pony show."

Countered Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman: "We tried to find Port Authority venues that do not require us to spend money, and times that will allow people to comment before and after work."

The agency pointed to the "historic economic recession," a tripling in World Trade Center rebuilding costs and "the largest overhaul of facilities" in its 90-year history as justifications for the September hike.

Also, the Port Authority proposes raising the base PATH fare from $1.75 to $2.75, with all of the revenue being used to improve the PATH system, Coleman said.

"The Port Authority's decision to raise tolls and scale back the carpool and Staten Island resident discount programs is nothing short of outrageous," said state Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn).

Said Borough President James Molinaro, "Everything else is going up, and so I'm not surprised that they are asking for this. The proposals are very high."

Molinaro said the increase will not only unfairly affect Island drivers, who have no option but to pay tolls once they leave the borough, but will hurt businesses and deter business expansion here.

"This increases the cost of goods for people on Staten Island, because of the tolls," Molinaro said. "This will do long-term damage to the Staten Island economy, and it is an additional burden you are putting on Staten Island residents only."

Businesses try to take advantage of the off-peak discount, but that strategy will become more difficult, as the Port Authority intends to expand the peak periods to 6 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends.

Still, Molinaro held out hope that the toll hike could be reduced through negotiations, and state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) will call for hearings.

"When the Legislature returns to session, I will call upon the Senate Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions to hold hearings on these hikes," Lanza said.

"The Port Authority is facing financial issues but so are families in the states of New York and New Jersey, and the answer cannot always be an indiscriminate and exorbitant increase in the cost to the taxpayer, or in this case, toll payer," said a joint statement from governors Christie and New York's Andrew Cuomo, who have the final say on any toll hikes. "As families must carefully and effectively manage their finances at this difficult time, so must government."

The ongoing economic downturn has shaved $2.6 billion off previous Port Authority budget projections, with 11 million fewer vehicles using its bridges and tunnels. The agency has deferred capital projects worth billions of dollars.

"Projects like replacement of the 80-year-old GW Bridge suspension cables and the 100-year-old PATH duct banks and the aged Lincoln Tunnel helix cannot wait any longer," said Denise Richardson, managing director of the General Contractors Association of New York.