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SE Illinois News

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Former state school employee Leavens paid in $84K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.59M in retirement

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Former state school employee Melba Leavens, who retired in May 2018, saved $83,628 toward a pension over 27 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Leavens would collect as much as $1.59 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes SE Illinois News.

The projection assumes Leavens received $33,503 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Leavens will have already received $103,554 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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