East Lyme ― The cost to the town of keeping embattled police Chief Michael Finkelstein on the books during his administrative leave has exceeded $100,000.

He has been off with pay for 149 days.

A large part of the expenses to date come from $69,523 in weekly salary payments Finkelstein has received as chief and emergency management director since he was placed on leave June 5.

That’s when he was arrested by state police and charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree breach of peace related to allegations of domestic violence made by his wife. He was subsequently arrested two more times on charges stemming from the initial investigation.

He’s currently in a state Superior Court diversionary program that will end next summer with the dismissal of the charges if he fulfills the family violence education program requirements.

An internal affairs investigation into how his wife’s allegations were handled by the East Lyme Police Department remains ongoing. No deadline has been disclosed for the probe conducted by the Southington-based Daigle Law Group.

Finance department numbers, gleaned from legal invoices and Director Kevin Gervais Jr., show the town so far has spent $28,352 on Finkelstein-related legal fees. This includes $14,815 for the internal affairs investigation to date. Most of the remainder has been paid out to town attorneys with the Waller, Smith and Palmer firm and to Nicholas Grello, the town’s labor attorney.

Also included is about $1,795 billed by Waller, Smith and Palmer so far for time spent advising the town how to deal with numerous Freedom of Information requests for details about Finkelstein’s arrests and the internal affairs investigation, many of which have gone unfulfilled.

The town also spent $4,581 in the early days of Finkelstein’s leave for a rental car after his department-issued SUV was taken away. The move was based on a stipulation in his employment contract that he be provided with a vehicle. The town subsequently let him use an older cruiser from the town fleet. He is entitled to fill it up with gas at the town’s fuel depot, but figures remain unavailable on the amount of gas he’s used to far as the town unrolls a new monitoring system.

The Board of Finance in August budgeted an extra $50,000 to cover anticipated fees involving the Finkelstein fallout, bringing the total line item for public safety legal expenses to $62,000.

Acting Chief Michael Macek’s pay, per union contract, matches Finkelstein’s $150,013 salary. Macek previously made $101,067 as a lieutenant. The added pay for Macek means the town has incurred about $15,000 in additional costs due to Finkelstein’s leave.

East Lyme Board of Police Commissioners chairman Dan Price in a Friday statement said any decisions about Finkelstein’s status are dependent on the results of the internal affairs investigation.

“We understand the frustration this may cause, but we want to assure our community that the commission is fully committed to a thorough and fair assessment of the facts, and will continue to work diligently to bring the matter to a resolution as soon as possible,” Price wrote.

Finkelstein was first arrested following an alleged altercation on June 3 that left Finkelstein’s wife with a bloody nose and bruised chest. He was ultimately charged over the course of three arrests with one count of breach of peace and two counts of disorderly conduct for the alleged domestic disputes with his wife that she later recanted. He was also charged with violation of a protective order, which is a felony, and with making a false statement for not turning over all of his guns following the initial arrest.

e.regan@theday.com

Editor’s note: This article was updated with a quote from the police commission chairman.