Over 30 years of retirement, Thomas would collect as much as $1.08 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Southern Illinois News.
The projection assumes Thomas received $22,677 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.
After 3 years of retirement, Thomas will have already received $70,092 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.