Metro East Sun

Former state university employee James O'Donnell, who retired in January 2018, saved $108,949 toward a pension over 26 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, O'Donnell would collect as much as $2.53 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Metro East Sun.

The projection assumes O'Donnell received $53,233 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, O'Donnell will have already received $164,538 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.