Halifax's mayor and a city councillor say they are taking voluntary pay cuts as the municipality grapples with huge COVID-19 financial problems that have led it to slash nearly 1,500 jobs.

Mayor Mike Savage said Thursday he told staff in late March to start setting aside 20 per cent of his pay, a move that will be re-evaluated on July 1. 

The mayor said he never intended to talk about it, but was asked directly about politicans' pay while speaking on The Rick Howe Show on News 95.7.

"I don't want this to be a big deal," he said in an interview with CBC. "I don't expect anybody else to do it, I just feel for me personally it felt like the right thing to do in light of the fact that many people were losing business and losing jobs."

Savage was set to earn $190,072.43 in 2020. Savage's office said he'll take a 20 per cent reduction of his gross salary, which means a drop of about $3,167 a month.

He said he'll have the choice of donating the money to charity or giving it back to the city.

"I will probably give mine to charity, a charity I will determine at some point in time," he said. "I'm not trying to make a point. It's just something I felt — for me — that I should do as leader of the city."

Earlier in the week, council voted to move the deadline for property and commercial taxes to June 1. The deferral is putting a strain on the city's revenues, which depend largelya on the taxes. 

Because of the loss, Halifax is cutting 1,480 positions, including seasonal workers who won't be hired back. Nearly all summer programming, including camps, is also cancelled. 

Halifax's ​​​​CAO, Jacques Dubé, said the municipality is trying to avoid further layoffs, and is asking anyone who can afford to pay their taxes sooner to do so.