Will County Gazette

Former state school employee Cheryl McKenna Patterson, who retired in May 2016, saved $109,347 toward a pension over 23 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, McKenna Patterson would collect as much as $1.52 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Will County Gazette.

The projection assumes McKenna Patterson received $31,906 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, McKenna Patterson will have already received $133,482 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.