The Boston City Council’s failed redistricting process left taxpayers on the hook for more than $700,000 in legal fees associated with a lawsuit that forced a federal judge to throw out an electoral map that likely violated the Constitution.

The city, which, along with the Council and Mayor Michelle Wu was sued after an initial map was passed by the body last fall, incurred roughly $349,000 in legal fees, plus another $54,000 for outside consultants, a Wu spokesperson said.

As part of a federal court settlement reached in October, per the docket, the city agreed to pay $313,500 in legal fees for the plaintiffs, bringing its total tab to $717,211, the spokesperson said.

City Council President Ed Flynn, who joined three of his colleagues in voting against a failed map that landed the body in court, told the Herald he had confirmed higher consultant costs with the city’s law department, which placed the total legal bill closer to $1 million.

“Taxpayers should be outraged — it was completely preventable,” Councilor-at-Large Michael Flaherty told the Herald. “The Council should commit to an independent redistricting master for all future redistricting efforts. Politics and special interests should not drive this process again.”

Flaherty said the legal expenses would be plugged into the corporation counsel’s budget for the city, under “execution of courts,” settlements or both.

This, he said, means that taxpayers will be “stuck with a bill for the nine councilors who ignored redistricting principles and guidelines and supported a map drawn on racial lines.”

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A federal judge tossed the map following a fraught redistricting process that included a week-long federal court proceeding, noting in her decision that the City Council likely violated the Constitution by factoring race into the establishment of a redistricting map passed by the body last fall, by a 9-4 vote.

U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris noted in particular that race appeared to play a “predominant role” in the redrawing of Districts 3 and 4, where a chunk of southern Dorchester was moved from D3 to D4.

District 3 Councilor Frank Baker opposed the changes, which advocates said at the time were necessary to add more white voters to avoid a situation of “packing” Black voters in District 4.

Redistricting divided the City Council, with Baker and Flynn contributing financially to a lawsuit that was filed against them and the rest of the body.

Erin Murphy was the other councilor to vote against the tossed map. Voting in favor were Ricardo Arroyo, Liz Breadon, Kenzie Bok, Gabriela Coletta, Tania Fernandes Anderson, Kendra Lara, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, and Brian Worrell.

The Herald reached out to Arroyo and Breadon, who co-sponsored that map, and Louijeune, who has stated she has the votes to become the next Council president, on Tuesday for comment, but did not hear back prior to deadline.

While Louijeune voted for the first map, she took over for Breadon as chair of the redistricting process in a second attempt ordered by the court in May, which resulted in a new map, built from the one she proposed, that was implemented successfully in last month’s city election.