A cloud of discontent that always seems to be menacing Staten Island, where people are accustomed to feeling ill used by the rest of New York City, is darker than usual these days.

Friday was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the structure that linked the island to Brooklyn and, in doing so — according to some Staten Islanders, anyway — ruined everything. And if that was not bad enough, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was, once again, threatening to raise the cash toll on the bridge by $1, to $16.

“They were supposed to pay it off 20 years ago,” said Liz DeMartino, who was born the day the bridge was lit for the first time, in 1964. “And we’re still paying.”

Mention the ever-increasing Verrazano toll to Staten Islanders, and one is likely to hear some version of the following: Crossing the bridge was supposed to be free once it was paid for. Yes, they read this in the paper somewhere. Or someone told that to them once. Or they do not remember how they heard, exactly, but everybody knows about it.