Rohan Foy and his wife Carlia work long hours to provide for their two young children, Harper and Xavier.
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He works weekdays and she works weekends, with often a "high-five in the hallways" as they pass each other by.
But any hopes the West Belconnen family had for relief from rising rates in Tuesday's ACT budget were dashed.
The average bill for a house in their suburb of Dunlop has increased $129 to $1865, about 7 per cent.
That's bang-on the increase expected across Canberra more broadly for house-owners, in line with the 20-year tax reform the territory government embarked on in 2012.
While Treasurer Andrew Barr said the "heaviest lifting of this reform has been achieved" and the rate of the increases would soon slow, Canberrans can still expect another two years of steep hikes.
The territory is expected to make $388 million from residential rates in 2019-20.
While the 2019 budget does cap growth on government fees and charges for households to no higher than the Wage Price Index because of cost of living concerns, that stagnation in rates increases can't come soon enough for the Foys.
Mr Foy feels that their rising rates have not been accompanied by more services in their area.
He said they struggled to get a place in the local preschool, and the Macgregor and Fraser primary schools could also use some investment.
"I think it's disappointing in relation to where we're living, there's been no particular love for our suburb or region," Mr Foy said.
"We've experienced a fair increase in rates, at least a few hundred [extra] a year.
"We've seen a lot of infrastructure in newer suburbs like Gungahlin, but the already established suburbs have been forgotten about in a lot of ways.
"It's good [Mr Barr] has recognised that impact but the fact is [the rates slowdown] isn't coming into place for another two years.
"It's a good long term outcome but in terms of not solving any of the impacts it's having on our families."
However the disability support worker was pleased to see improvements to the Working With Vulnerable People Scheme to make accreditation faster.
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"As an employer, that could speed up the process of getting a Working With Vulnerable People check for potential candidates. One was waiting six weeks for the card to come through," Mr Foy said.
"It could have an impact on the number of people applying for jobs in the sector, the community sector in Canberra is very understaffed, there's quite a shortage and there's a much higher need."
Mr Foy also said his wife would welcome the extra health investment flagged in the budget, with the Calvary emergency department in for a major expansion and extra surgical theatres to be built.
The government also put aside $53.7 million for work on its flagship infrastructure project SPIRE, an expansion of Canberra Hospital.
