Database selection… Need advice…

I’m planning an application that will be written in Visual Basic, and will require a database backend that supports SQL, OLEDB or ODBC, transactions, and stored procedures. As it’s still in the early planning stage, I don’t know what other featuresI might need, and can’t be more specific. Not to mention that databases aren’t really my forte. MS Access is not reliable enough for my needs, but MS SQL Server 2000 is overkill in both functionality and price. Is there a good mid-range database that runs on Windows 2000 that would be suitable for this application? Something that can be had for around $1,500 or less?

Thanks in advance!