Will County Gazette

Former state university employee Patricia Smith, who retired in October 2016, saved $28,800 toward a pension over 12 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Smith would collect as much as $544,118, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Will County Gazette.

The projection assumes Smith received $11,436 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Smith will have already received $35,347 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.