Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone is dropping his fight over the Wynn Resorts casino that is now under construction next door in Everett. But the taxpayers of Somerville really ought to demand a full accounting of the costs of this quixotic legal gambit, given how little the city appears to have secured in return.

Somerville’s legal challenges to the casino project were always viewed as a long shot. But Curtatone kept throwing them against the wall to see if they’d stick.

The latest was related to a key state environmental permit required for development near waterways, which the state awarded to Wynn in July. Curtatone said yesterday the city would not pursue a further appeal of that permit — and would withdraw several other pending legal challenges — after securing a few concessions on waterways issues and reaching a deal with Wynn to negotiate outstanding traffic concerns.

The mayor has insisted his shotgun legal approach wasn’t designed to wring more money out of Wynn (the fact that he apparently didn’t get any would seem to back that up) or to stop the casino.

But his purported concerns about traffic and the environment rang a bit hollow. The idea that he was sincerely concerned about boat traffic clogging the Mystic River, for example, was laughable.

No, it is far more likely that Curtatone saw some advantage in following the trail blazed by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh — who had also fought Wynn to the wire. But all that approach seemed to garner for Somerville was blame for project delays — and no Democrat who dreams of higher office wants to be blamed for thwarting the creation of 4,000 union jobs.

So it’s a big “never mind” from Somerville, after an agreement was reached with Wynn to work out traffic concerns — something that could have been easily achieved without repeatedly dialing up the lawyers. Which brings us back to the original question: How much will all of this legal maneuvering ultimately cost the taxpayers — and was it worth it?