The City of Altus finally cut off the electricity to Quartz Mountain Aerospace after its board met Monday afternoon and decided it could not come up with a plan to pay the city its back utility payments.

According to records, QMA owes the city $88,000 in utilities, but with fees and penalties, the total bill owed is almost $162,000.

City Manager Michael Nettles said the extensions given to the company were because QMA had been promising a big influx of grant money that would pay off all debts - but that money never materialized.

Nettles said that the city finally sent Quartz Mountain Aerospace a cut off letter a couple of weeks ago informing the company that utilities could be cut off at 10 a.m. Monday, June 8.

QMA officials responded by asking the city to grant them yet another extension until after their board meeting that day at 1 p.m. at which time they would discuss what could be done to get the utility bill paid.

Nettles said that he was informed by QMA yesterday afternoon that they were not going to be able to resolve the back bill, so he had no other choice than to order Altus Power to cut off electricity.

The City is also currently in legal action against QMA for defaulting on a loan.

“We really thought that they (QMA) may be able to pull all of this together, but hopefully at some point down the road there may be some other business that can use the facility,” Nettles said. “It’s a nice facility that someone could put to good use and create job opportunities for the Altus community.”