Mayor Anthony A. Williams and D.C. Council members tentatively agreed yesterday on a plan to pay for $9.9 million in bonuses to thousands of unionized city employees, and lamenting last week's rhetorical rumble over the issue, they called a truce.

The compromise plan, put forward by Williams, involves borrowing money from the city's share of the tobacco settlement, using interest income on accounts held by the D.C. financial control board and reallocating city agency funds. The money will be used to pay $1,700 bonuses to 5,807 unionized D.C. employees no later than Monday.

D.C. Council approval of the plan--possibly as soon as today-- would allow Williams (D) to save face with union workers, to whom he had promised to give the bonuses by tomorrow as a reward for their giving up pay increases during the city's recent financial crisis. The city now has a budget surplus, which under the current labor contract requires bonuses to be paid.