Stupid is as stupid does

IN a classic case of government agencies working at odds, the Department of Finance awarded a property-tax exemption to a Brooklyn building that the Department of Buildings wants to fine as an illegal conversion.

BUREAUCRATIC $$ WAR OVER B'KLYN YESHIVA

Records show that the Mesivta and Yeshiva Gedolah of Manhattan Beach won a 75 percent property-tax reduction in 2004 after it bought an apartment house at 59 West End Ave. and converted part for religious and educational purposes.

The exemption lowered the yeshiva's most recent annual tax bill from $15,020 to $3,755.

The only problem - as building inspectors discovered on March 28 - is that the conversion was illegal. The owner did extensive construction work, even installing plumbing, to create a synagogue, office, classrooms and dorms in four of the eight apartments - all without permits.

After residents complained, it took DOB eight visits to gain entry, when they wrote two summonses returnable May 19 for work without permits.