The Boston City Council honed dysfunction to a fine art this year. Why should Bostonians have to pay for its mistakes?

We mean that literally.

As the Herald reported, the fractious fight over redistricting that roiled the council and prompted a lawsuit racked up a bill of $700,000-plus. Guess who’s picking up the tab?

That $700,000-plus is for the legal fees arising from that lawsuit – one that forced a federal judge to throw out an electoral map that likely violated the Constitution.

The city, the Council and Mayor Michelle Wu were sued after an initial map was passed by the body last fall.

That “unity map” as it was called, was a group effort, with input from advocacy groups including the NAACP Boston chapter teaming with some council members.

It was tossed by a federal judge after a week-long court hearing, and it was deemed that the council likely violated the Constitution by factoring race into the redistricting map.

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

Which we pay for.

“Taxpayers should be outraged — it was completely preventable,”  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.”

Special interests are the name of the game in Boston these days, but residents shouldn’t have to carry the can for failed power plays.

In the private sector, employees who cost a company money through their errors are disciplined, demoted and often fined.

So too should those who worked for and promoted the redistricting map in question be held accountable for the legal costs to the city.

Perhaps not the full $700,000-plus, but enough to take the bulk of the burden off taxpayers who were not part of the procedural shenanigans. Enough to send the message that dysfunction and posturing will cost you.

There are many needs in the city that could be alleviated or eased with an influx of $700,000-plus. Feeding families, helping the homeless, and sorting out the migrant influx filling city shelters are but a few who could use the cash.

The slug-fest over redistricting cost councilors’ constituents, and those who put agendas and politics above all need to own that. Perhaps Mayor Wu could come up with a wage-garnishment figure, it would send the message that the council doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and that job number one is serving the citizens.

The breakdown in civility and the ability to get things done is the unfortunate legacy of several current councilors. It revealed that the Boston City Council needs a guardrail to avert future fiscal crashes. Putting them on the financial hook for legal costs due to Constitutional end-runs fits the bill.

The new year will bring new faces to the city council. Hopefully the chaos and lack of decorum that marked too many issues and votes will be put to rest.

A good theme for the swearing in party would be: “Politics and special interests should not drive this process again.” They could just write that on the cake.

Editorial cartoon by Joe Heller (Joe Heller)