Yes, on the one hand Mr Barr will be presiding over the largest single-year deficit in the territory's history, and yes, he will be telling Canberrans that before the year is out net debt will be nudging the $4.7 billion mark.

But he is fortunate to be presiding over the best-performing jurisdiction in the Commonwealth with startlingly low unemployment levels, a remarkable level of economic activity during the pandemic, rising property prices and a positive outlook.

While there is no doubt the government's many critics, inside and outside the assembly, will make much of the debt and deficit projections, you don't have to travel far to see just how well off the ACT is in relative terms.

When Annastacia Palasczcuk's government handed down its budget in December the new treasurer, Cameron Dick, said his state's revenues would be $12.3 billion lower than the estimate released at the mid-year fiscal update in December 2019.

With the emphasis on job creation and post-COVID-19 reconstruction Queensland has had to commit an unprecedented $56 billion towards infrastructure investment with $14.8 billion of that to be rolled out this year. While net debt is tracking at about $25.5 billion, Queensland's gross debt is expected to reach $102 billion by the middle of this year.

Unlike Queensland, where the economy has been savaged by months of self-imposed on-again off-again border closures, the ACT is travelling very well. While Queensland's unemployment rate is expected to hit 7.5 per cent in 2020-21 before falling to a forecast 6.5 per cent by 2022-23, Canberra's unemployment rate had already fallen to 3.7 per cent by December.

The Barr government does not have to do nearly as much heavy lifting on the economic reconstruction and employment creation fronts as other states while JobKeeper is phased out. It is in the fortunate position of being able to concentrate on improving the levels of services and service delivery, rolling out new infrastructure, and putting money into people's pockets through programs such as an ambitious $300 million climate-action package.

While Mr Barr has said the budget will be focused on supporting the COVID-19 recovery (including the vaccine roll-out), delivering on election responses, and "progressing items" in the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement, he faces some uniquely specific challenges that are not pandemic related.

Advancing the long-awaited SPIRE project and putting planning in train for upgraded health facilities in the city's north are both high priorities at a time many residents are concerned they are not getting the best "bang for the buck" for their rates contributions and service fees.

While this is a literate electorate and people understand it takes money to develop good services and quality infrastructure, tolerance for ever increasing fiscal demands from the government is starting to wear thin given the outlays have often failed to deliver "best in show" results.

That is particularly true in the case of hospital waiting lists, the operation of the Alexander Maconochie Centre, and the provision of social housing.

These are all issues that have predated the pandemic for many years. And they have all been been this government's responsibility, in one form or another, for decades.

The biggest challenge facing Mr Barr as he rolls out unprecedented levels of expenditure this budget day is to ensure every dollar is spent wisely and well.