NEWBURYPORT — If Mayor John Moak were to leave the city to become town manager in Winthrop, he wouldn't be the first politician to make the change.

By mere observation, the benefits of being a town manager versus a mayor may seem obvious. Town managers don't need to run for office. They can do the job without worrying about launching a re-election campaign. Their actions are less scrutinized by the public at large. And they tend to make a lot more money than mayors — in Moak's case, he stands to double his $65,000 mayoral pay.

But as town administrators will tell you, their role mimics that of a mayor.

"I think they're very similar actually," Nancy Colbert Puff said yesterday. The former planning director in Newburyport, Colbert Puff left last fall to become town administrator in Boylston.

A town manager or town administrator is an appointed position, hired by a city's elected body — a town council or Board of Selectmen. They have much of the same responsibilities as a mayor: finances, interacting with department heads and overseeing the day-to-day aspects of running town government. They still attend meetings and work far beyond the normal office hours Town Hall is open and deal with personnel issues.

But, as Newbury Town Administrator Chuck Kostro says: "I don't have to run for office."

A manager or administrator is a different type of position, as it's a career position instead of an elected position, Kostro said, adding that he doesn't foresee himself ever running again for an elected office. Years ago, he served as a selectman in Acton.

"You work hard; you work a lot of hours, but it's always a very rewarding job," Kostro said.

Colbert Puff said she enjoys "the broader picture" that being a town administrator presents. "I like working with the Board of Selectmen," she said. "The mayor in Newburyport doesn't directly answer to the City Council, versus a manager or administrator does."

Noting that you "should never say never," Colbert Puff seemed to rule out the idea of ever running for an elected office, saying, "I'm very happy where I am now."

Salisbury Town Manager Neil Harrington knows best the differences between being mayor and being a manager. Harrington was mayor in Salem for eight years.

While the days are similar for the two jobs, there are some clear differences.

One negative of being a mayor is the salary, with the officials being "generally underpaid," Harrington said. For seven of his years in Salem, the salary remained the same, increasing only during his final year.

In Salisbury, Harrington makes $97,000 a year. "Managing a town of 8,000 people for the amount of money that I earn is probably a fair salary," he said. Managing a town and not being a resident can also help, Harrington said.

"If you are a town manager in a town in which you do not reside, there are much less political implications to managing on a day-to-day basis," Harrington said. "If you're not running for office, in the town that you're working, it creates a different type of environment for you to work in."

As a town manager, Harrington said he leaves the after-hours business to the town's elected Board of Selectmen. The town manager isn't usually found at the town's social events at night, only formal town business, Harrington said.

There are a handful of current town managers who are former mayors, Harrington said.

For some communities, a town manager form of government just doesn't work, though.

In Amesbury, a town manager and Board of Selectmen were the town's form of government for years. That changed about 10 years ago when the town agreed to switch to a mayor and Municipal Council form of government.

Nick Costello, Amesbury's first mayor, said the town needed a change.

"In some communities, a town manager works; in Amesbury, it didn't," he said, adding that in the span of 10 years, Amesbury had 11 town managers.

"The Board of Selectmen and managers never got along with each other," he said.

Citizens were so disgusted by what was occurring, the switch to a mayor form of government was supported, Costello said.

"It's too easy to pass the buck when you're a town manager," he said. "Everybody was throwing the ball to each other. With a mayor, then the buck stops there. One person who takes the responsibility."