Former state school employee Melbourn paid in $215K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.66M in retirement

Former state school employee Terrence Melbourn, who retired in June 2017, saved $215,255 toward a pension over 35 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Melbourn would collect as much as $4.66 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Melbourn received $97,902 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Melbourn will have already received $302,605 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.