Over 30 years of retirement, Smith would collect as much as $4.9 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Southern Illinois News.
The projection assumes Smith received $103,093 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.
After 3 years of retirement, Smith will have already received $318,651 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.