Los Angeles took steps Wednesday toward laying off 246 of the initial 761 workers to be cut under the $6.7 billion city budget taking effect July 1.

A list of layoffs - affecting libraries, animal services and child care services in parks - was presented to the unions this week as part of the budget balancing plan.

But union leaders said the job cuts will ultimately result in only $13 million in savings because of a previous deal agreed to defer pay increases if the city agreed to no layoffs. Now that the layoffs are moving forward, they noted, the city will have to pay about $54 million in deferred wage hikes.

"City leaders declared their plan to proceed with layoffs rather than accepting concessions ratified by workers last year that would have saved millions without service disruptions," the Coalition of City Unions said in a statement.

"We implore you to not slap away the hand of generosity," Julie Butcher, business manager of the SEIU told the City Council.

"This doesn't make sense operationally, it doesn't make sense financially and it doesn't make sense morally."

But city officials say they also might need to lay off an additional 1,000 workers if the city does not get an expected $53 million in revenue from the lease of city-owned garages.

Alice Goff, a police service representative and coalition leader, said the figures don't add up.

"It seems like they just want to look tough," Goff said. "The concessions we agreed to last year ... would have gone well beyond the savings that will come from these layoffs.

"They are targeting some of the lowest-paid workers providing direct services to children and families."

City Council President Eric Garcetti said he remains optimistic that layoffs still can be averted.

"I think that the closer we get to the 11th hour, the more people will be willing to make concessions," Garcetti said. "No one wants to see more layoffs, and it wouldn't cost much to get us on the road to solving this."

Garcetti said the cost of raises that will have to be paid compared with the savings needed is not that great.

"I am hopeful we will find a way out of this," Garcetti said.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the unions were warned the layoffs were coming.

"Unfortunately, this is just the start," Santana said. "We have told the unions unless we can get significant long-term savings, this is what we will have to do."

Santana said the raises that were put on hold by the unions fall into the category of one-time savings.

"If they would agree to permanently pass on those raises, that would be a significant savings we could count on and reduce the need for layoffs," Santana said.

Other proposals made by the city to the unions include an increase in the share paid by workers for medical insurance as well as elimination of a number of bonuses and how those are paid.

"This year, we have a 100 percent balanced budget and these are the steps we have to take," Santana said. "Last year, we had a budget that was $300 million in the red and then had a hole of $600 million. We were never able to catch up."

In this year's budget, a $485 million shortfall was covered with the layoffs and planned furlough of 16 to 26 days, depending on the union.

City Personnel Director Maggie Whelan said her department has been processing the layoffs as ordered by the City Council.

"I don't think that without major concessions from the unions that the city has any other choice," Whelan said, adding the layoffs could be rescinded immediately if there is any change.

Officials have estimated the city needs $110 million in concessions this year to avoid layoffs and furloughs.