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South Cook News

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Former state school employee Balas paid in $118K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.19M in retirement

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Former state school employee Mary Balas, who retired in June 2016, saved $117,981 toward a pension over 21 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Balas would collect as much as $2.19 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes South Cook News.

The projection assumes Balas received $45,934 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Balas will have already received $141,977 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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