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North Cook News

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Former state school employee Balk paid in $123K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.87M in retirement

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Former state school employee Mary Balk, who retired in June 2016, saved $122,682 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Balk would collect as much as $2.87 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes North Cook News.

The projection assumes Balk received $60,281 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Balk will have already received $186,322 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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