THE Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times iconic 100-year-old home in the heart of Darlington has been sold for conversion into apartments. The purchaser is Darlington Borough Council, which plans to create an adult skills and training centre on the ground floor with Darlington College, although the council, the Echo and the D&S are exploring ways in which the papers could continue to be based on the corner site. Most of the money for the council s acquisition is coming through the Government s Towns Fund, which aims to create new futures for town centres. Councillor Heather Scott, leader of Darlington Borough Council, said: “The Echo building in Priestgate is one of our town’s most iconic buildings – up there with the clock tower and Victorian covered market in terms of being instantly recognisable to Darlington people.
Calls grow for action to limit fast food shops
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Thu, 01/28/2021 - 4:17pm tim
by Don Turner 2021 marks 25-years since then-Treasurer Jim Douglas recommended that the state change its trajectory from costly defined benefit retirement plans for state employees and teachers to defined contribution plans. Eleven years ago, in 2009, a special commission suggested a consideration of this same idea. I have previously written about our pressing need to consider a defined contribution option, as well as the sleeping giant of our unfunded liabilities.
Unfortunately, since the time I wrote my opeds in 2019, Vermont s unfunded liabilities have ballooned from $4.5 billion to more than $5 billion.
That increase has occurred despite repeated assurances from current Treasurer Beth Pearce that all was well the Legislature simply needed to make its yearly obligated payments to the pension system, and all would work out fine. According to her, there was no need for structural pension reform.
Mon, 01/25/2021 - 1:23pm tim
by David Coates, KPMG (retired) For over ten years, these columns have been critical of the treatment of the state’s retirement systems (state employees and teachers) which now in their present forms, are neither sustainable nor affordable without significant reforms. This has just changed with the State Treasurer’s report to the Legislature.
The Treasurer and I have disagreed over the years on how to solve these problems.
However, I must acknowledge and commend her for the recommendations she has made to the General Assembly on how to reduce pension and OPEB (retiree healthcare) liabilities to ensure the retirement systems are able to continue to pay their participants.
MEMBERS of the North East Shadow MPC were surprisingly buoyant, many reporting business as good as, if not better than, last year despite the tumultuous events of the year. Optimism was slightly tempered for 2021 with Brexit and the consequences of the economic measures taken to mitigate the pandemic. Members unanimously voted to hold interest rates at the current level, although a couple of members mooted a reduction in the New Year and spoke about the possible impact of negative rates. The MPC is a partnership between The Northern Echo and Darlington Building Society, which considers the state of the region’s economy and gives experts from a variety of sectors the opportunity to argue their case for a shift, or hold, in the rate.
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