STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - State lawmakers secured $10 million for a major computer project for the College of Staten Island (CSI) in this year's $138 billion state budget.

Also included is the promised $14 million for Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll relief for Island motorists, among other allocations.

State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) announced that the $10 million would go toward CSI's Interdisciplinary High Performance Computer Center, a state-of-the-art research and learning facility to be built on the Willowbrook campus, which is already home to the college's super computer.

"This will make CSI an even bigger attraction," said Lanza.

Said Cusick, "This shows that CSI is the jewel we've always known it to be."

CSI President Dr. William Fritz said that the $10 million should bring the facility through the design phase and to the beginning of the bidding process.

"This will transform our campus," said Fritz, who added that the center will also include lecture halls, classrooms and offices and research space for faculty.

It is the first new academic space to be built at the campus since CSI moved to Willowbrook in 1994.

"That is significant," said Fritz.

Lawmakers said that the total pricetag for the facility would be around $50 million.

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That computes: $10 million in state budget for super CSI computer center