County Cancels Biggest Contract in Wake of Audit

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday terminated Los Angeles County’s largest private contract, reacting to an audit that determined the pact had cost taxpayers $1 million more than expected.

The five-year, $65-million contract with Holmes & Narver Services to maintain and repair the county’s 6,500-vehicle fleet was expected to save $1 million a year when it was approved by the board in 1988.

The unanimous vote to terminate the contract was a setback for the board’s three-member conservative majority, which had heralded the practice of hiring private firms to take over jobs formerly done by county employees as cost-effective.