The 9th Judicial Circuit Court oversees family law in Kalamazoo County. Under that court, the Friend of the Court is responsible for enforcing child support orders, pursuing non-custodial parents, and recommending enforcement actions. The officers who carry out that work are called Domestic Case Enforcement Officers.

Public payroll records show that one of those officers, Benny Clark Jr., earned $33.05 per hour in 2023. That is 41.2 percent higher than the average pay for his coworkers in Kalamazoo County government, according to data published by OpenPayrolls.

Seven Years of Pay Data

Clark's payroll history raises questions that the 9th Circuit Court and the Kalamazoo County FOC have not publicly addressed.

2017 - $27.97/hr ($58,177.60 annually) - Enforcement Officer

2018 - $29.17/hr ($60,673.60 annually) - Enforcement Officer

2019 - $51,015.89 annual salary ($24.53/hr equivalent) - Enforcement Officer. This is the only year out of seven where Clark's compensation was reported as an annual salary rather than an hourly rate. It represents a significant pay reduction from his 2018 rate and was 29.7 percent below the county average. The reason for this change has not been publicly explained.

2020 - $29.75/hr ($61,880.00 annually) - Enforcement Officer. Pay recovered.

2021 - $31.41/hr ($65,332.80 annually) - Enforcement Officer

2022 - $31.41/hr ($65,332.80 annually) - Enforcement Officer. No raise.

2023 - $33.05/hr ($68,744.00 annually) - Domestic Case Enforcement Officer. New title. Now 41.2 percent above the average pay of his coworkers.

Collections Are Going Down

While Clark's pay has climbed, the metric his job is measured by has gone in the opposite direction. Kalamazoo County child support collection rates have fallen every year since 2020.

  • 2020: 69% collected (state avg: 74%)
  • 2021: 68% collected (state avg: 72%)
  • 2022: 64% collected (state avg: 67%)
  • 2023: 65% collected (state avg: 68%)
  • 2024: 65% collected (state avg: 68%)
  • 2025: 65% collected (state avg: 68%)

The county has been below the state average every single year. Collection rates dropped from 69 percent to 65 percent during the same period Clark's pay rose from $27.97 to $33.05 per hour.

The 9th Circuit Has Questions to Answer

The 9th Circuit Court is responsible for the FOC that employs Benny Clark Jr. The taxpayers of Kalamazoo County fund his salary. The families in the county depend on the child support system he is paid to enforce.

A federally funded University of Michigan study found that the punitive enforcement tools used by FOC offices, including bench warrants, actually reduce child support payments by 23.9 percent. The study analyzed 645,827 cases across Michigan. The findings were published in 2015. The enforcement approach has not changed.

The Kalamazoo County FOC has denied or dismissed 100 percent of citizen grievances filed between 2020 and 2024. There is no Citizen Advisory Committee providing independent oversight. The office reviews its own complaints and has never found itself at fault.

When an enforcement officer earns 41 percent more than his peers, the results of his work decline every year, and the office that employs him has zero accountability, the residents of the 9th Circuit deserve answers. Starting with what happened in 2019.