Former state school employee Sammarco paid in $101K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.74M in retirement

Former state school employee Carol Sammarco, who retired in June 2018, saved $100,753 toward a pension over 22 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Sammarco would collect as much as $1.74 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Sammarco received $36,573 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Sammarco will have already received $113,043 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.