central falls is the canary in the coal mine of rhode island, says moreau. >> i think that, with all the other cities and towns that are on the brink of it, if one were to fall, all the others would fall right after it. and it would be a financial disaster for the state of rhode island. >> reporter: mark pfeiffer is the retired judge temporarily appointed to run the city. with him, his successor, judge robert flanders. pfeiffer squeezed the unions, raised taxes 20%. still not enough. >> if you combine the pension obligations with retiree healthcare, it totals $80 million, with the city having a budget of $17 million, an annual budget. so the quick arithmetic would suggest that if we provided no services, maintain the same tax and revenue stream that we have right now, it would take almost five years to fund these obligations. >> reporter: in short, the pension fund here has already run dry. why did the city keep making promises it couldn't keep? >> people are going to try to get the best deal that they can. and that... there's nothing wrong with that. it's just that when you create t