City worker finds money; not allowed to keep it

NEENAH, Wis. (AP) – A sanitation worker who found $1,900 attached to a discarded desk at a city scrap heap says he deserves the money – but the city won’t give it up.

“It’s been very hard on me for being honest and then being told that because you’re honest we’re going to pat you on the back and take your money,” David Voight said.

Voight, 52, found the cash in July, in envelopes attached by magnets to the underside of the metal desk at a junk drop-off site. Voight turned the money over to police and waited for someone to claim it within 90 days.

Now that the 90 days are up and no one claimed the money, city officials have been wrangling over what to do with it.

City Attorney James Godlewski said the city owns the money if Voight found it within the scope of his duties, but if he was acting as a private citizen, it would belong to him.

Voight said he had permission to scavenge things from the scrap heap, and he was doing it on his own time when he found the money.

“It wasn’t mine to begin with,” Voight said. “But it kind of rubbed me the wrong way that all of a sudden the council said since it was found on city property you can’t have it.”