HEIDI FORD

IRON MOUNTAIN — The Dickinson County Friend of the Court office ranked first among Michigan’s 83 counties as the most cost-effective in the state in 2023.

The numbers provided by the Michigan Office of Child Support compares the office’s costs — staff, utilities, maintenance, supplies and other expenses — with what it takes in for child, spousal, medical and child care support as well as establishing and enforcing orders regarding paternity, custody and parenting time.

The Dickinson County office collected $3,472,686 in 2023, county Friend of the Court Heidi Ford said.

That put them on top at $10.78 per dollar spent, followed by Montcalm County at $10.69 and Eaton County at $9.65, both in downstate Michigan.

It comes after Dickinson County ranked second statewide in the state for 2022, Ford said.

The Dickinson office has long led the Upper Peninsula for cost-effectiveness, said Ford, who has spent 22 years in the office. The amounts posted by other U.P. counties in 2023 included Chippewa, $7.65; Delta, $7.20; Marquette, $6.56; Iron, $6.22; Keweenaw, $5.79; Houghton, $4.74; Baraga, $4.21; Luce, $4.19; Menominee, $3.68; Mackinac, $ 3.33; Schoolcraft, $3.17; Alger, $3.07; Gogebic, $2.95; and Ontonagon, $1.55.

Ford thanked her staff — Celeste Calo, paternity and child support investigator; Liane Arnold, child support investigator; and Brittany Olson, administrative assistant — for working diligently on all the cases.

“My staff is just absolutely super and they do an exemplary job,” Ford said. “It’s a team effort.”

She pointed out that Dickinson County ranked second-highest for paternity establishment despite paternity investigator Calo only doing that role half-time.

She also credited local judges. “We have wonderful judges here that work fabulously with us,” Ford said.

“This could not have been more wonderful news for our office, because we truly work hard … to make sure everyone is taken care of,” Ford said.